US House committee approves Africa trade bill

11/12/2025 16:15

A U.S. House committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would renew for another three years Washington's preferential trade programme for Africa, and there was no immediate mention of excluding South Africa as the U.S. trade envoy had said was possible.



The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a law first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the U.S. market for eligible Sub-Saharan countries and products, expired in September and hundreds of thousands of African jobs are estimated to depend on it.



U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday the Trump administration was open to a one-year extension but might exclude South Africa, which he described as a "unique problem".



The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means approved the AGOA Extension Act by a vote of 37-3, a committee statement said, describing the trade initiative as "the cornerstone of economic relations between the U.S. and Sub-Saharan African nations".



"An extended lapse in AGOA would create a void that malign actors like China and Russia will seek to fill," the statement added.



The bill will pass to the full House of Representatives, though it is not yet clear when it will take it up.