Accra — Nearly 30 years ago, five of us – bipartisan Congressional staffers on Capitol Hill – joined forces with five African leaders, including officials of the African Union and even a few Heads of State. We locked ourselves into the granular trade details, often late into the night, drafting what would become the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, expanded by both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. AGOA, heretofore, has been supported by every U.S. Presidential Administration (including Trump One), since its inception.
At the time of legislative drafting and multiple introductions, the odds were stacked against us. Powerful voices in the U.S. on both the left and the right, in Congress and beyond, told us AGOA was “dead on arrival.” But we were undeterred.
Working for powerful Members of Congress – Bill Archer, Charlie Rangel, Jim McDermott, Ed Royce, Donald Payne, Bill Jefferson, Phil Crane, and later Senators Richard Lugar and William Roth – we understood what AGOA (duty and quota-free U.S. market access for essentially all goods made in Sub-Saharan Africa) could mean. We knew the failures and immense costs of America’s growing “aid industrial complex,” and we dared to imagine something different: a shift from paternalism to partnership, from aid to trade.
We cannot let this be the moment when America turns away.
As the first-ever Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, my role was born from those early AGOA drafts. And in the years since, AGOA has delivered on its promises:
What AGOA Has Achieved
- Expanded and diversified trade: At its inception, 90% of U.S. imports from Africa were oil. Today, oil is down to about 20% of the U.S.–Africa trade relationship. Under AGOA, African countries now export over $6 billion annually in autos, apparel, food, and specialty goods.
- Jobs on both sides: AGOA supports more than 1 million African jobs and nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs.
- U.S. Trade growth: Two-way U.S.–Africa trade rose from $28 billion in 2001 to $44 billion in 2024. U.S. exports to Sub-Saharan Africa grew 215% since 2000, reaching $18.6 billion in 2024.
- American advantage: The U.S. now enjoys an annual surplus in the services sector of $5.5 billion with African countries. The fact that Africans are spending nearly $20 billion annually on U.S. tourism, U.S. transport services, U.S. IT support, and financial services is indeed aligned with President Trump’s “America First” principle — benefiting American workers, technology, and U.S. companies.
Consider Lesotho, a small Southern African Kingdom of 2.3 million people, where the average person lives on just $2.66 a day. Yet last year, Lesotho still spent $24 million on U.S. IT and other services — running a $12 million services trade deficit with the U.S. That is already more than can reasonably be expected from a country facing deep poverty. No one should imagine that Lesotho will soon be a major buyer of U.S. Boeings, Teslas, or minivans without a miraculous leap in its economic development.
- Development Dividend: Since its inception, AGOA has delivered more than one-half trillion dollars in duty-free Sub-Saharan African exports to the U.S. market, translating into economic development, expanded incomes, and opportunities across the continent, while competing with low-cost imports from China in the U.S. On a return-on-investment basis, AGOA is by far outperforming U.S. investments in development assistance to Africa.
- Costs: Unlike U.S. trade programs with other regions of the world, AGOA’s cost to U.S. taxpayers is negligible – it is considered “budget-neutral.”
- Policy cornerstone: AGOA created platforms for high-level dialogue that never existed before. African leaders, once unable to secure high-level U.S. meetings, now sit at the table regularly with Presidents, Cabinet members, and Members of Congress.
The Human Impact
AGOA is not just numbers. Currently in Accra, I spent some time a few days ago with Ghanaian and U.S. owners of DTRT (Do The Right Thing) DTRT Apparel Group , an AGOA apparel factory — the largest private employer in Ghana. 6,000 employees, the majority of them women, are working to keep hope and production alive. The women in the factory are now sending their girls to school as well as their boys and experiencing better health outcomes.
In Lesotho, where tens of thousands of women stitch garments for the U.S. market, the government recently declared a state of emergency due to collapsing orders tied to AGOA uncertainty. In Madagascar, a country with one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world, a government leader told me, “For us, AGOA is already dead. We pray it can be revived.”
Why Letting AGOA Expire is Dangerous
For the first time since its enactment in 2000, AGOA expires today – September 30, 2025. In its 25-year history, AGOA has never been allowed to lapse, because U.S. policymakers understood the devastation it would cause in Africa — and the lost opportunities for America.
As AGOA lapses:
- Workers lose: Hundreds of thousands of African and American jobs are vanishing.
- Competitors win: In June, China announced additional enhancements to expand trade with Africa – zero-tariff treatment for 100% of products from 53 African countries with whom it enjoys diplomatic relations. China already trades more than twice as much as the U.S. with Africa, replacing the U.S. since 2009 as Africa’s largest trading partner.
- America losing influence: Without AGOA, the U.S. is unabashedly ceding one of the world’s fastest-growing markets to global rivals.
The Way Forward
AGOA must be renewed – and urgently; its lapse has already shaken confidence, killed investment, and canceled orders.
· Renewal should ultimately bring modernization:
- Reciprocal pathways that expand U.S. exports.
- U.S. investment incentives in critical minerals and energy.
- Stronger U.S.–Africa partnerships to compete with others around the globe.
AGOA has always been bipartisan. Every U.S. President since Bill Clinton – Republican and Democrat, including President Trump (initially) — has supported it. Why? Because it works.
At almost no cost to U.S. taxpayers, AGOA has created jobs, expanded opportunity, strengthened partnerships, and shifted our relationship with Africa from aid dependency to trade-based dignity.
We cannot let this be the moment when America turns away.
Rosa Whitaker, President & CEO of The Whitaker Group, is Co-Chair of the bipartisan AGOA Alliance and Former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa
