US-Africa trade: House approves three-year Agoa extension

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Monday that would renew Washington's preferential trade program for some African countries through 2028.

The House approved the extension for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the US market for eligible Sub-Saharan countries and products, by a vote of 340 to 54, the House Press Gallery said in a posting on the social media website X.

The bill will next go to the US Senate.

But uncertainty remains over whether South Africa will be excluded, given strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Pretoria.

The trade initiative expired this year and African governments and investors had lobbied for a one- or two-year extension.

AGOA is credited with supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs in more than 30 eligible countries.

Its impact has been diluted by the bilateral tariffs that US President Donald Trump’s administration introduced in August, which exposed products once exported duty-free under AGOA to US import taxes of between 10% and 30%.