Lesotho Expert Policy

The African Growth and Opportunity Act1 (AGOA) is a non-reciprocal unilateral trade preference program that provides duty-free (and largely quota-free) access into the United States (U.S.) for products from eligible Sub-Saharan African countries. The Act has been in existence for over 18 years and has been amended six times since its enactment on May 18, 2000. The latest iteration from July 2015 to September 2025 is the longest extension in the history of the trade deal with Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The AGOA program aims to promote a free-market system, expand U.S.-African trade and investment, stimulate economic growth and assist SSA’s integration into the global economy. The two focus areas for the AGOA program are to increase exports from AGOA eligible countries to the United States, and to encourage investment by U.S. firms into SSA.

As outlined in its policy statement, the U.S. Government (USG) objective for the AGOA program is to: a) Increase trade and investment with Sub-Saharan African countries; b) Expand U.S. assistance to SSA’s efforts on regional integration; c) Reduce tariffs and non-tariffs between the two regions; d) Strengthen and expand the private sector in SSA; and e) Facilitate the development of civil societies and political freedom. This trade initiative provides the most liberal access to the U.S. market consisting of over 300 million people. The combined AGOA/Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)2 program covers over 6,400 product lines3 from eligible SSA countries, over 700 of which are agricultural. The products consist of more than 1,800 tariff line items (including apparel, footwear, wine, luggage, handbags, watches, certain motor vehicle components, chemicals, steel and many others) under AGOA, in addition to the 4,600 items enjoying duty-free status under the U.S. GSP program.The AGOA program has been touted as a significant and fundamental shift in U.S. policy towards sub-Saharan African countries and the cornerstone of the United States’ economic engagement with SSA over the years. Consequently, the 10-year AGOA Extension to September 2025 is an opportunity for AGOA beneficiary countries to ramp up their investment and trade promotion efforts. The AGOA Extension emphasizes the need to “boost trade and investment between Sub-Saharan Africa” and focuses on regional integration, economic development and diversifying sources of growth, eliminating barriers to trade and investment as well as the promotion of the role of women in social and economic development. AGOA provides more liberal access to the U.S. market than any other U.S. unilateral trade preference arrangement and reinforces African reform efforts.