The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump supported a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the trade initiative with Sub-Saharan Africa that expired this Tuesday (30), according to Reuters.
Since Trump took office in January, his administration had not publicly commented on the law, which was first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of products.
Despite broad bipartisan support in the United States for renewing AGOA—which is seen as an important tool to diversify U.S. supply chains and counter China’s economic influence in Africa—the approval of the law’s extension before its expiration remains uncertain and faces challenges.
The only realistic legislative path to achieve this extension is to attach the AGOA renewal to the continuing resolution bill that Republicans are promoting to prevent a U.S. government shutdown after this Tuesday’s deadline. If this does not occur, the extension could still be revisited and approved at a later date.
Source: Líder Magazine
