Between July 24–26, trade ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and other stakeholders came to Washington, D.C., for the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. This year’s forum, “Beyond 2025: Reimagining AGOA for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Tomorrow,” sought to bring AGOA-eligible countries together to discuss how to best renew the key sub-Saharan Africa trade legislation. The 2024 AGOA Forum was an opportunity for private sector stakeholders, members of Congress and top U.S. trade officials to engage and collaborate on key priorities to include in the next iteration of the legislation.
AGOA was first enacted in 2000 to provide tariff-free treatment of U.S. imports of goods sourced from certain sub-Saharan African countries to bolster economic growth and deepen U.S. economic ties with eligible nations. The law has been renewed twice, in 2008 and 2015, and is expected to expire in September 2025. Lawmakers from both parties have sought to push forward legislation to ensure the program’s renewal prior to the next presidential administration and Congress.
2024 AGOA Forum
Since the theme of the 2024 AGOA Forum was focused on the reauthorization of the trade program, many of the conversations during the forum were centered on areas of improvement and opportunities for expansion.
On the first day of the forum, the African Union released a report detailing its desire for AGOA’s reauthorization. The African Union’s statement calls for: (1) the removal of “non-trade considerations” to the eligibility requirements; (2) the continuation of eligibility even if a country fails to meet the current human rights eligibility requirements; (3) the addition of new products to AGOA coverage, specifically raw critical materials and critical minerals; (4) the support of calls to expand AGOA eligibility to the entire African continent; (5) the simplification of current rules of origin requirements for products to enhance market access; and (6) additional U.S. support for awareness campaigns for developing national and regional AGOA utilization strategies. The African Union’s desire to modify the requirements of AGOA eligibility is a reference to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai’s comments to expand AGOA eligibility to include environmental criterion, as well as an opportunity to continue eligibility for African countries that recently passed “anti-LBGTQ” legislation. The African Union also wishes to prevent the removal of countries from AGOA eligibility because once a nation is stripped from the trade benefits, it makes regional integration more difficult. The African Union also argues that expanding the list of nations eligible for AGOA will support ongoing efforts for regional integration across the continent. Lastly, the African Union called on the U.S. Congress to pass the AGOA reauthorization before the end of 2024.
Many of the conversations during the forum considered how to modernize the AGOA trade program to effectively represent the changing market and development needs, as well as areas for expansion. Current programs for AGOA include support for the textile, automotive, chemical, minerals and metals, and machinery industries, as well as limited assistance to the agriculture industry, but there were calls to include more digital programming to connect African businesses with U.S. companies, as well as increasing support for the African agriculture industry. There were also proposals offered to increase awareness and utilization of the program, promote worker-centric trade policies and enhance partnerships that drive economic development and opportunity for Americans and Africans. Officials also discussed how to address challenges faced by women, youth and small-to-medium-sized enterprises in assessing trade and investment opportunities.
Following the forum, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa (AUSTR) Connie Hamilton and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Joy Basu both expressed U.S. support for expanding AGOA eligibility to members of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This expansion would allow the entire African continent to benefit from AGOA instead of just sub-Saharan nations. The 2024 AGOA Forum also included a review of the eligibility of some nations, particularly South Africa and Ethiopia. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and South African Trade Minister Parks Tau recently met to discuss AGOA, and the South African Government of National Unity is responsive to concerns from the United States and is interested in deepening the U.S.-South Africa trade relationship. Ethiopia lost its beneficiary status in January 2022 and is currently seeking reentry into AGOA. Deputy Assistant Secretary Basu said USTR is in ongoing conversations with Ethiopia about its eligibility status, and it will be eligible once it meets the requirements set in AGOA.
Ongoing AGOA Renewal Efforts
During the 118th Congress, members from both parties expressed their support for reauthorizing AGOA. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Adrian Smith (R-ME) indicated he would prioritize AGOA’s renewal and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch (R-ID) as well as Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced legislation for its reauthorization. Sens. Risch and Coons introduced the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Renewal and Improvement Act of 2024 (S.4110), while Sen. Kennedy introduced the AGOA Extension Act of 2023 (S.2952). Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) and Colin Allred (D-TX) led 33 of their Democratic colleagues in H.Res.261 reaffirming the U.S.-African Union relationship and calling for greater ties with the continent. Members of Congress also introduced amendments to the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA) to increase trade relations with Africa to increase U.S. presence to compete with malign Chinese influence. Unfortunately, the amendments offered during the House review of the FY25 NDAA did not include any of these amendments, while the Senate has yet to complete its review of the annual defense bill. For more information about the benefits of AGOA to sub-Saharan Africa and the history of the legislation, please click this link.
Just before the start of the AGOA Forum, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai participated in an event with the International Black Women’s Public Policy Institute. During her remarks at the event, USTR Tai called for the AGOA renewal to include environmental requirements in the list of eligibility requirements for participating countries. USTR Tai highlighted that U.S. trade preference programs should reflect environment and environment criterion because there is “opportunity that comes with the crisis for our planet.” She also called for eligible countries and industry stakeholders to dream big as they discuss potential revisions to AGOA, referencing a recent report from the U.S. International Trade Commission as a potential guide.
Members of the Biden administration have also expressed their support for an early renewal of AGOA during their meetings with African trade ministers and during briefings following the conclusion of the forum.
Next Steps
Although there are multiple opportunities and bipartisan, bicameral support for a swift AGOA reauthorization, the ability to renew the legislation before 2025 will be a difficult process. Members of Congress have a shorter legislative calendar in 2024 because of the presidential election. Congress also has more pressing legislative priorities, namely the annual appropriations and defense legislation. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also expressed his desire to pass a series of China-related legislation before the end of the 118th Congress. However, there is congressional desire to renew trade preference programs, including AGOA and the Generalized System of Preference, which expired in December 2020.
Congress has the potential to push forward or attach AGOA reauthorization in the series of China-related bills because it can act as a China competition initiative. The reauthorization of AGOA will not only boost U.S. trade ties and presence in the region, but it will also increase U.S. access to key products that can increase U.S. technological advancement and economic development in the era of strategic competition.
Of the legislation introduced for AGOA reauthorization, Sens. Risch (R-ID) and Coons’ (D-DE) AGOA Renewal and Improvement Act of 2024 (S.4110) has the most potential for consideration, because we do not believe Democrats would support Sen. Kennedy’s (R-LA) “clean” reauthorization. We also expect that the Senate review, as well as the conference process for the FY25 NDAA process will match the House’s strict germaneness rule. This will prevent the Africa trade amendments unlikely to be included in the final version of the annual defense bill.
While Congress is working on how they would pass an AGOA reauthorization, the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa is set to discuss its impressions from the 2024 AGOA Forum. The Advisory Council was originally scheduled to meet prior to the 2024 AGOA Forum but decided a debrief from the forum would be more logical. The Advisory Council rescheduled its meeting for Aug. 8 and is expected to present and adopt recommendations made during the 2024 AGOA Forum to pass along before the program’s expiration in 2025.
Brownstein is uniquely positioned on issues relating to international trade. The AGOA reauthorization process offers a great chance for the participants to have their concerns brought up with key lawmakers with the power to reauthorize the crucial trade program. Our international team—including former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a co-author of AGOA—will continue to monitor the reauthorization process and other legislation that concerns U.S.-African trade. If you want to know more about the legislation’s renewal and how to make sure your interests are considered, please contact one of the authors of this alert.
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