United States President Donald Trump has signed into law a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), temporarily restoring preferential access for eligible African exports to the American market and averting what many governments feared would become a prolonged disruption to trade flows and jobs across the continent.
The extension runs through December 31 and applies retroactively from September 30, 2025.
United States Trade representative Jamieson Greer said the administration would now work with Congress to reshape the programme in line with Trump’s broader trade philosophy.
Business Eswatini (BE) welcomed the renewal, expressing gratitude for the extension, noting that the country’s application for renewal had long been uncertain.
AGOA was renewed following a decision by United States president to sign legislation extending AGOA’s trade preferential programme for Africa. First enacted in 2000, AGOA grants duty-free access to the US market for eligible sub-Saharan African countries covering more than 1 800 products. The Act had expired in September last year, placing hundreds of thousands of African jobs at risk.
BE Chief Executive Officer E. Nathi Dlamini emphasised that given the volatility of the global trading system in recent months, the success of the country’s application had been far from assured.
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“We are most grateful to receive the good news that it has been renewed. You may be interested to know that we had been preparing for a worst-case scenario throughout 2025, as the prospects of another renewal appeared dim,” he said.
He further observed that tariffs had become a dominant feature of US trade policy, affecting many countries. “We are therefore pleased, as the private sector, with this positive outcome and extend our sincere thanks to the US Congress for its wise decision. Moreover, the US enjoys a trade surplus with Eswatini and tariffs would have inadvertently undermined its trade and investment interests,” Dlamini added.
Attempts to obtain comment from the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the US House of representatives initially passed legislation to extend AGOA for three years, but the Senate later reduced the extension to one year, a decision with which the House concurred. The renewal comes at a time of strained relations between the United States and South Africa.
