Having circled the drain for much of last year, the African Growth and Opportunity Act—a preferential trade arrangement that had allowed thousands of African goods to enter U.S. markets duty-free for the past quarter century—lapsed at the end of September 2025. Though AGOA, as it is known, was retroactively renewed after a bipartisan vote earlier this month, it was extended only through December 2026, rather than for the three-year period that was originally planned. When AGOA expires at the end of this year, Congress should seize the chance to do something more substantial and replace it with a codified commercial diplomacy statute that gives U.S. firms the tools they actually need to compete in a region that investors are increasingly treating as a source of opportunity, rather than of risk. Last May at the Africa CEO Forum, the State Department’s then-lead official on Africa, Troy Fitrell, unveiled what would become the commercial diplomacy strategy of President Donald Trump’s administration. This six-point framework made U.S. ambassadors directly accountable for dealmaking, committed the U.S. to pursuing market reforms with partner governments, prioritized high-impact infrastructure, enhanced commercial diplomacy missions, connected U.S. capital to African markets, and promised to modernize U.S. trade tools for faster approvals and bolder risk-taking on prospective deals.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 26, 2026 02:25 UTC