US President Donald Trump has signed into law a one-year extension of a key African trade preference scheme, reviving duty-free access that had lapsed and unsettled exporters across the continent.
The law extends the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to December 31, retroactive from its 30 September 2025 expiry, according to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
The move restores legal certainty for African exporters after months of limbo that threatened hundreds of thousands of jobs tied to US-bound exports, particularly in apparel, agriculture, and light manufacturing.
AGOA, first enacted in 2000, grants eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products. Its lapse last year disrupted supply chains and raised fears of order cancellations as buyers weighed shifting sourcing to Asia and Latin America.
Greer said the administration would now work with Congress to update the programme in line with Trump’s “America First” trade agenda. He said future changes would aim to expand market access for “US businesses, farmers and ranchers”, signalling a more reciprocal and conditional framework.
The extension follows weeks of legislative back-and-forth in Washington. The United States House of Representatives last month approved a three-year renewal, but the United States Senate cut it to one year, a compromise the House later accepted.
Trade certainty restored, but pressure builds
The short extension underscores uncertainty hanging over US–Africa trade relations. African governments and investors had lobbied hard for a longer renewal to justify capital investments and multi-year export contracts.
The timing is also politically sensitive. Relations between Washington and South Africa, Africa’s biggest economy and a major AGOA beneficiary, have been strained. Trump last year boycotted a G20 summit hosted by Pretoria and later said South Africa would not be invited to G20 meetings hosted by the US in 2026.
Despite the tensions, South Africa’s Trade Minister Parks Tau welcomed the extension, saying it would “provide certainty and predictability for African and American businesses that rely on the programme”.
The US Trade Representative’s office said it would work with relevant agencies to implement any tariff schedule changes resulting from the legislation.
To qualify for AGOA benefits, countries must show progress towards market-based economies, uphold the rule of law, political pluralism, and due process, and remove barriers to US trade and investment. They are also required to combat corruption, reduce poverty, and protect human rights.
For investors, the extension averts immediate disruption but reinforces a longer-term message: AGOA is no longer guaranteed. With only a year secured, African exporters may face renewed pressure to diversify markets, deepen regional trade under AfCFTA , and prepare for tougher US trade conditionality.
