Customs Duties: Washington Reactivates Agreement with About Thirty African Countries

On Tuesday, the United States reactivated the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for one year, an agreement that allows many African products to access the U.S. market duty-free. This agreement has been extended until December 31, 2026, retroactively effective from September 30, 2025, the date it expired, as emphasized by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, in a statement.

The extension of the agreement is included in the legislation enacted on Tuesday by Donald Trump, which ended more than three days of paralysis within part of the U.S. federal administration. In January, the House of Representatives voted to extend AGOA for three years, but senators reduced the duration to one year.

AGOA is a cornerstone of trade relations between the United States and African countries. This preferential trade treatment was launched in 2000 under the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton. It allows African countries to export numerous products to the United States without tariffs, provided they meet a series of conditions (political pluralism, respect for human rights, combating corruption, etc.).

About thirty countries out of the fifty on the African continent theoretically benefit from this agreement, which covers a wide range of products from clothing to yams and even cars. The Trump administration has used the expiration of the agreement as leverage over African countries. Ghana's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, admitted in October that Washington conditioned the extension on his country's acceptance of individuals expelled from the United States.

The White House has also repeatedly indicated that to obtain an extension of AGOA, African countries must open up more to American products. In his statement on Tuesday, Jamieson Greer asserted that "the 21st-century AGOA must demand more from our trading partners and offer better market access to American businesses, farmers, and ranchers."

He specified that he wants to work with American lawmakers to "modernize the program to align it with President Trump's America First policy."