U.S./Africa: African Union advocates for a “no-change” renewal of the AGOA program

Several American officials, including the U.S. Deputy Trade Representative for African Affairs, have announced in recent months that the Biden administration aims to review the AGOA or replace it with a new trade agreement. The African Union (AU) called on Thursday, November 2, for the U.S. Congress to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade preference program granted by the United States to Sub-Saharan African countries since 2000, for at least an additional ten years without making any changes. “[An extension of] 10-20 years is very critical to the investment community. Anything lower than that would generate uncertainty,” said…