The House of Representatives has passed a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), securing duty-free U.S. market access for sub-Saharan African exporters that had been set to expire at the end of 2026.
The extension is part of H.R. 6500, The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, which passed the House with bipartisan support.
The bill previously cleared the Senate on August 8, 2026 and now heads to the President’s desk for signature. If signed, AGOA would remain in effect through December 31, 2028.
Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett (D-VI) welcomed the passage, describing it as critical certainty for businesses on both sides of the trade relationship.
“Extending these programs before they lapsed protects existing trade relationships as well as the American and African businesses that depend on them,” Plaskett said.
Plaskett pointed to AGOA’s 26-year track record as the foundation of America’s economic partnership with sub-Saharan Africa.
“For twenty-six years, AGOA has been the foundation of America’s economic partnership with sub-Saharan Africa, providing duty-free access to more than 1,800 products and building commercial relationships that support American exporters, American consumers and our national security interests,” she said.
The extension comes after a period of legislative uncertainty for U.S. trade preference programs, which Plaskett noted had previously lapsed before being restored on a shorter-term basis.
Her statement framed the two-year runway as a meaningful improvement for businesses that rely on long-term planning cycles to make sourcing and investment decisions.
“I will continue to emphasize the importance of U.S. trade engagement with our AGOA partners in sub-Saharan Africa,” Plaskett said. “This extension gives American manufacturers and investors the predictability they need, certainty that these trade preferences will remain in place, supply chains will stay stable, and sourcing decisions can be made with confidence.”
AGOA has functioned since its enactment as one of the primary legislative pillars of U.S. economic engagement with the African continent, granting eligible sub-Saharan African countries preferential, duty-free access to the U.S. market across a broad range of product categories.
The programme has been credited with supporting export-oriented manufacturing and job creation across participating African economies, while giving American businesses and consumers access to African-manufactured goods and raw materials outside more heavily tariffed supply chains.
The timing of the extension carries added significance amid broader global shifts in trade and manufacturing strategy, as governments and companies alike reassess supply chain dependencies concentrated in a small number of countries.
For African exporters and their American trading partners, the extension through 2028 removes a source of near-term uncertainty that had complicated investment and sourcing decisions tied to the programme’s now-averted expiration.
The bill’s passage with bipartisan support in both chambers signals continued political consensus in Washington around AGOA’s strategic value, even as broader U.S. trade policy has faced scrutiny and revision across multiple fronts in recent years.
