US House passes extension of African Growth and Opportunity Act

The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Monday to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a 25-year-old program 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 in an effort to support economic development, rule of law, and stronger political ties. 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. “Our nation’s economic, strategic, and national security interests are front and center in AGOA. Think about it: This program strengthens our critical supply chains and helps us counter the harmful global influence of nations like China and Russia,” House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said prior to the vote Wednesday. Smith noted the benefits for the U.S. from AGOA, pointing out that U.S. businesses have invested “$8 billion annually under AGOA” and that African trading partners have started to open their markets to U.S. agriculture. He also said the bill maintains stringent eligibility criteria with annual reviews to protect intellectual property, human rights, market access, and counter corruption. This bill provides “a much-needed level of certainty and stability in the near term so that Congress can continue its work on future reforms to address and strengthen U.S. priorities.” Prior AGOA authorizations have lasted longer than three years, but this bill was seen as a necessary compromise to revive the lapsed trade program while lawmakers negotiate an updated program. Getting to this point has been a challenge, as reauthorization efforts faced multiple fits and starts in recent years, including a reauthorization bid in September prior to AGOA lapsing. “For over 20 years, AGOA has been the foundation for U.S.-Africa trade, and it’s unlocked hundreds of thousands of jobs; billions in trade depend on it. And at a time when the United States is focused on strategic competition, and our competitors are so laser focused on Africa, we need to show up in a serious and sustained way, and having this lapse is going in the wrong direction,” Doug Anderson, the ONE Campaign’s senior director of U.S. government relations, told Devex. “If Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio is serious about moving to trade, not aid, continuing AGOA until something better is put in place is indispensable.” While AGOA has now passed the House, it’s unclear what exactly the path forward will look like. There has historically been support for AGOA in the Senate — including a 2024 bill from Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, and Sen. James Risch, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, jointly introduced a bill to extend the program for 16 years. But there hasn’t been much movement in the Senate thus far, so AGOA proponents may search for a must-pass bill that they can attach the extension to in order to expedite its passage.