Okonjo-Iweala and US lawmakers welcome Trump’s two-year extension of AGOA

President Donald Trump has signed a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, ending months of uncertainty over a US trade programme that gives qualifying African countries duty-free access to the American market.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, welcomed the decision in a post on X. “Great to learn that the USA has granted a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), extending trade preferences to qualifying African countries,” she wrote. She said she hoped the move would stimulate “mutually beneficial and greater Africa-USA trade.”

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Great to learn that the USA has granted a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), extending trade preferences to qualifying African countries.

Okonjo-Iweala also thanked the US Congress, the administration, individuals and organizations involved in securing the extension. She credited the African Union and African leaders for their “patience and persistence” on the issue.

AGOA was established in 2000 to promote economic growth in Africa and expand trade between the United States and the continent. Nigeria is one of 32 African beneficiaries. The US House of Representatives approved the renewal in January by a vote of 340 to 54, and both chambers passed the extension last week through the end of December 2028.

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Hope this will help stimulate mutually beneficial and greater Africa-USA trade!

The programme’s future had been uncertain after delays and speculation that the Trump administration might scrap it, restrict it significantly or exclude some countries. US lawmakers had urged Trump to bar South Africa, while former US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in December that he was open to “different treatment” for the country, calling it a “unique problem.” The legislation ultimately passed without substantive policy changes.

Lawmakers who supported the extension also welcomed Trump’s signature. Republican Representative Jason Smith of Missouri said AGOA had been “the foundation of America’s trade relationship with the nations of sub-Saharan Africa” for more than two decades.

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For over two decades, the African Growth and Opportunity Act has been the foundation of America’s trade relationship with the nations of sub-Saharan Africa.