The U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a 25-year-old programme between the U.S. and sub-Saharan African nations that underpinned the U.S.-Africa trade relationship. AGOA provides qualifying sub-Saharan African nations with tariff-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of products to support economic development. The House passage, by a large bipartisan majority, comes after the House Ways and Means Committee last month approved the bill that would extend AGOA for three years. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, described AGOA as “a cornerstone of US–Africa economic relations,” noting that the programme has supported industrialisation, job creation, and the development of regional value chains across Africa for more than two decades. He called on Washington to approve the extension “in a spirit that upholds partnership and shared strategic interests.” Despite the extension, several African countries remain excluded from AGOA eligibility. These include Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, and Guinea, as well as Mali, Niger, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
