USA/ Africa: AGOA set to be extended one more year?

Uncertainty looms over African factories and thousands of jobs as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a cornerstone U.S. trade policy, is set to expire. For 25 years, the pact has allowed duty-free access to the American market for qualifying African goods, fostering industrialization and employment.

In Kenya alone, the apparel sector exported $470 million to the U.S. in 2024, supporting over 66,000 jobs many held by women.

At Nairobi’s Shona EPZ factory, worker Joan Wambui fears the worst: “If Agoa expires, where shall we go?” Her income supports her daughter, siblings, and mother.

While Reuters reports a possible one-year extension, the Trump administration has not publicly committed to renewing the program.

The uncertainty has already cut production at Shona EPZ by two-thirds as buyers hesitate on long-term orders.

First signed in 2000 and renewed in 2015, Agoa covers more than 30 sub-Saharan nations and boosted U.S.-Africa trade to $50 billion in 2014. Its lapse would strip key industries of competitiveness and risk reversing decades of economic progress.