President Donald Trump has signed a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), reinstating duty-free access for qualifying African countries to the U.S. market through Dec. 31, 2026, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said. The extension is retroactive to Sept. 30, 2025, the date the program had lapsed.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said his office will work with Congress this year to update AGOA so it aligns with Trump’s America First trade priorities, asserting the modernized program should require more from trading partners while opening greater market access for U.S. businesses, farmers and ranchers.
Enacted in 2000, AGOA lets eligible sub‑Saharan African countries export more than 1,800 products to the United States duty-free. Eligibility depends on progress toward market-based economies and the rule of law, eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment, poverty-reduction measures, anti-corruption efforts and protection of human rights.
In 2024, goods worth $8.23 billion (€6.96 billion) entered the U.S. under AGOA, with South Africa making up about half of that total and Nigeria roughly one-fifth, according to U.S. International Trade Commission figures. The lapse of the program in September had disrupted trade flows and put thousands of jobs across Africa at risk.
Earlier this year the U.S. House approved a three-year AGOA extension, but the Senate cut the extension to one year; the House accepted that change.
The move comes amid strained relations between Washington and Pretoria. Trump skipped a G20 summit hosted by South Africa last year and later indicated South Africa would not be invited to G20 meetings hosted by the United States. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, citing alleged land seizures and incidents of violence; South African authorities reject claims that Afrikaners and other white citizens are being persecuted. South African Trade Minister Parks Tau welcomed the AGOA extension.