The AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) has been extended to 31 December 2026.
The law was signed on 3 February 2026, with retroactive effect from 30 September 2025, the date on which the programme had expired (USTR, February 2026).
For an African agrifood SME, this window is a concrete opportunity to access the US market duty-free — but it is short and surrounded by regulatory uncertainty.
This article explains, step by step, how to check your eligibility, estimate real costs, achieve compliance, and find a first buyer in the United States before the end of 2026.
- What AGOA is and why the extension ends in late 2026
- Is your business eligible? Countries, products and rules of origin
- Tariffs in 2026: what AGOA actually covers (and what it does not)
- The compliance checklist for getting your product into the United States
- Calculating your selling price and real export margin
- Finding a US buyer without going it alone
- Three African SMEs that have already exported under AGOA
- A 90-day action plan before the 2026 window closes
AGOA is not just another trade agreement.
It is the only mechanism that allows dozens of African countries to export to the United States without paying standard customs duties.
But its future beyond 2026 remains unclear, and additional US taxes apply alongside it, even for eligible countries.
Understanding these two levels is the starting point for any export decision.
What AGOA is and why the extension ends in late 2026
AGOA has existed since 2000.
It gives sub-Saharan African countries deemed eligible duty-free access to the US market for a broad list of products, including many processed agrifood products.
The programme was due to expire on 30 September 2025.
It did in fact lapse on that date, before being reauthorised four months later.
The reauthorisation law is section 5019 of Division I of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2026 (Public Law 119-75), signed on 3 February 2026 (Congressional Research Service, 2026).
The House of Representatives had voted for a three-year extension (H.R. 6500), by 340 votes to 54, on 12 January 2026.
The Senate reduced the duration to one year only, in line with the administration’s position (African Business, January 2026).
The result: AGOA is now guaranteed until 31 December 2026, but nothing has yet been voted on for what comes next.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer indicated that the administration wants to work with Congress on a “modernisation” of the programme before its deadline (USTR, February 2026).
For an SME, this timeline means one simple thing: the current window is a real opportunity, but one to treat as temporary, not as a lasting given.
Key takeaways
- Hard deadline – AGOA runs until 31 December 2026, with no guarantee of renewal beyond that date.
- Legal basis – Public Law 119-75 (section 5019), signed 3 February 2026, retroactive to 30 September 2025.
- Political risk – the House wanted three years; the Senate imposed one: what comes next will depend on a new vote in 2026.
Is your business eligible? Countries, products and rules of origin
Three conditions must be met simultaneously: the country must be designated eligible by the United States, the product must appear on the AGOA list, and the product must comply with the programme’s rules of origin.
In 2026, 33 sub-Saharan African countries are designated eligible, according to the Congressional Research Service report of August 2026 (CRS, August 2026).
This figure changes: it stood at 32 a few months earlier.
The official, up-to-date list is published by the USTR (USTR, list of eligible countries) and should be checked before making any commercial commitment.
| Status | Country examples (non-exhaustive list) |
|---|---|
| Eligible (cited by USTR, Dec. 2025) | Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Namibia, Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana, Botswana, Togo |
| Not eligible (excluded in 2026) | Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan |
Ethiopia was removed from the list in January 2022 due to the Tigray conflict and has not been reinstated since (BusinessDay, 2026).
Equatorial Guinea and Seychelles left the programme after reaching an income level that makes them ineligible for the GSP scheme on which AGOA depends.
On the product side, the AGOA list incorporates the tariff lines of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), to which it adds further lines reserved exclusively for AGOA beneficiary countries.
For agrifood, this covers in particular cacao and its processed derivatives, shelled or processed cajou, karité butter, processed and flavoured coffee, fruit juices, preserved fruits and vegetables, and certain spices packaged for retail sale.
Each line has its own HS (Harmonised System) code and its own rule of origin: the same raw product and its processed version may fall under two different tariff lines with different conditions.
Before committing, you must therefore identify the exact HS code for your finished product, not just the raw material.
On rules of origin, an agrifood product must have been grown, produced or processed in the beneficiary country, going beyond a simple assembly or packaging operation.
It must be exported directly to the United States, and the shipping document must explicitly claim AGOA benefits.
When inputs are imported from countries outside AGOA, the standard rule requires a minimum local value-added threshold of 35%, of which up to 15 percentage points may come from US content (AGOA.info, rules of origin).
This 35% threshold has been criticised by several governments, including Uganda, which considers it too high for a least-developed country processing imported raw materials.
In practice, an SME that imports packaging, flavourings or additives from outside the AGOA zone must calculate the local value-added share precisely before claiming the benefit, or risk rejection at the US border.
Tariffs in 2026: what AGOA actually covers (and what it does not)
Many SMEs assume that being AGOA-eligible means “zero duties, full stop”.
That has not been true since 2025, and the situation became even more complex in 2026.
AGOA removes only the baseline customs duties (MFN, “most-favoured-nation” tariffs). It offers no protection against additional taxes decided separately by the US administration.
Three layers of taxation have followed one another within a single year:
| Measure | Rate | Status as of 13 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| IEEPA “reciprocal” tariffs (2025) | Up to 50% (Lesotho), 47% (Madagascar), 40% (Mauritius) | Struck down by the Supreme Court on 20 February 2026, the president having exceeded his powers |
| Section 122 surcharge (temporary relay) | 10% on most imports | Expired 24 July 2026, not renewed by Congress |
| Section 301 “forced labour” tariffs (proposed) | 10% or 12.5% depending on country | Proposed on 2 June 2026 by the USTR, under public consultation, not finalised in available sources |
The June 2026 Section 301 proposal targets 60 economies subject to a forced labour investigation, including eight African countries: Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, and two other economies named in the investigation (AllAfrica, June 2026).
Countries that have adopted or committed to an import ban linked to forced labour would face a 10% rate; others would face 12.5%.
Exemptions are being considered for certain fruits and vegetables, and for oil and gas from Nigeria and Angola.
In other words: even with a valid AGOA certificate, an SME may face an additional tax of 10 to 12.5% if its country appears on this list at the time of shipment.
Before each shipment, check the exact status of current measures on the USTR and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) websites — this framework has changed three times in one year.
There is good news for certain sectors: a presidential executive order from November 2025 eliminated MFN duties on more than 200 food products that the United States does not produce, or produces only in small quantities, including cacao, coffee and tropical fruits.
For these raw commodities, the baseline duty was already zero even before AGOA.
AGOA retains its full value for higher value-added processed products — chocolate, roasted and flavoured coffee, juices, confectionery, snacks — which remain taxable outside AGOA.
Key takeaways
- AGOA is not a blanket exemption – it cancels MFN duties, not surcharges decided separately by the administration.
- Check before every shipment – the tariff framework changed three times between 2025 and 2026; information six months old may already be outdated.
- Raw cacao and coffee are already at 0% – the AGOA advantage matters most for processed products.
The compliance checklist for getting your product into the United States
Beyond customs duties, an agrifood product must pass US sanitary controls.
That is where shipments are most often blocked — not at customs.
| Document / step | Authority | Key point |
|---|---|---|
| Food facility registration | FDA | Mandatory for the exporting facility, free of charge, renewed in even-numbered years, submitted online |
| Prior notice for each shipment | FDA | Must be filed before the arrival of each shipment, without exception |
| Phytosanitary certificate | USDA / exporting country’s sanitary authority | Required for products of plant origin |
| Certificate of origin (Form A or AGOA equivalent) | Customs authority of the exporting country | The document used to claim AGOA benefits at entry |
| HACCP file / food safety management plan | Company, verified by the importer | Not legally mandatory in all cases, but almost universally required by the US importer |
| Country-of-origin marking on the product | CBP | Mandatory on the final packaging sold in the United States |
One point that frequently changes the picture for an African SME: the legal responsibility for food safety under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) falls on the US importer, not the exporter.
In practice, it is your US buyer who must demonstrate to the FDA that they have verified your quality controls — not you directly.
But that responsibility rebounds onto you: an importer who does not receive a solid HACCP file, hazard analyses or inspection results will often refuse to commit, because their own legal liability is at stake.
FDA warning letters sent to US importers of African products document specific failures: no FSVP plan for imported maize flour, peanut butter biscuits and powdered milk (letter of 15 January 2026), or for imported fonio (letter of 2022) (FDA, warning letter, January 2026).
For HACCP compliance itself, detailed costs and steps are covered in our HACCP and ISO 22000 guide, and financing options for these certifications are covered in our guide to the cost of agrifood certifications.
Key takeaways
- Blockages rarely come from customs – it is the sanitary file (FSVP, HACCP) that causes most first shipments to fail.
- FSVP legal responsibility is American – but without a solid quality file on your end, no importer will take that risk.
- Prepare, don’t improvise – an incomplete HACCP file delays or cancels a shipment that has already been paid for and dispatched.
Calculating your selling price and real export margin
Before accepting a first US order, you need to cost the full journey — not just the ex-works price.
Five items determine your real margin: production and certification, compliant packaging, sea freight, any duties and taxes, and distribution commissions once the goods reach the United States.
| Cost item | Available data |
|---|---|
| HACCP certification / FDA compliance | Varies by product and country; see our dedicated guide to certification costs |
| 40-foot container sea freight, Asia–United States reference (benchmark, not a direct Africa route) | Approximately USD 8,346 to the West Coast, USD 11,523 to the East Coast, spot rate as of 1 October 2026 (market data relayed by SeaRates, 2026) |
| Direct Africa–United States freight from your port | Not publicly available: request a firm quote from a freight forwarder, as rates by route are not published |
| AGOA customs duty (eligible processed product) | 0% on the base MFN tariff, provided all rules of origin are met |
| Potential additional surcharge (Section 301, by country) | 0, 10% or 12.5% depending on country and the outcome of the ongoing USTR consultation |
In 2026, the sea freight market to the United States is at its highest level since the Red Sea crisis, with forecasts of a possible correction to USD 4,500–7,000 per container on certain routes in the following three months (SeaRates, 2026).
In this context, negotiating the transport price is almost as important as negotiating the product price.
A reliable margin calculation follows this order: target selling price to the US buyer, minus distribution commission, minus total duties and taxes, minus freight and insurance, minus compliance costs, minus production costs.
If the result is negative or too thin once all these items are added up, it is better to renegotiate the volume or price before the shipment — not after.
The choice of Incoterm directly determines who bears the freight risk.
Under FOB (Free On Board), the exporter delivers the goods to the port of departure and the US buyer arranges and pays for sea transport: the SME has better control over its exit price, but the buyer retains control over the choice of carrier.
Under CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight), the exporter books the container and insurance to the US port, making it possible to offer an all-inclusive price that is easier for a buyer new to African markets to compare — but this exposes the SME to the freight volatility described above.
For a first shipment, many exporters prefer FOB precisely because it avoids carrying the risk of a sudden container price spike alone.
Finding a US buyer without going it alone
The number one challenge is not production — it is finding a reliable US buyer.
Several channels exist specifically for African agrifood SMEs, without resorting to blind prospecting.
The Prosper Africa programme, funded by the US government, runs a US-Africa Trade Desk that connects more than 20,000 buyers from US retail chains — including Kroger, Whole Foods, Sam’s Club, Dollar General, Walmart and Target — with African agricultural suppliers.
The stated objective is to generate at least USD 300 million in additional exports within 18 months (Prosper Africa).
Trade shows are a second concrete channel.
The African Fine Foods Pavilion at the Summer Fancy Food Show, one of the largest US food trade shows, has brought together more than 130 African companies for direct contact with US buyers.
A third, more local channel runs through AGOA Trade Resource Centers, funded in part by the USAID West Africa Trade Hub.
This network of 15 centres has already supported more than 2,700 companies through the AGOA export process, with trained coordinators across seven West African countries.
These centres provide hands-on help preparing customs documents and identifying initial commercial contacts.
The Accra centre in Ghana is part of this network of 15 centres covering West Africa and offers regular training on US market access requirements.
US public trade finance can also help unlock a relationship with a buyer.
The Development Finance Corporation and the US Export-Import Bank sometimes support a US importer committing to larger volumes from an African supplier, which can reassure a distributor hesitant to place a first order.
Specialist wholesalers dealing in African and Caribbean products, based in major US cities (Houston, Chicago, the Newark–New Jersey area, Maryland, Atlanta, Charlotte), also remain an accessible entry point for an initial volume, before a possible move into mainstream retail.
Three African SMEs that have already exported under AGOA
Three real cases show different paths to the same destination: the US market.
Food Care, in Angola, made the first shipment of Angolan food products to the United States under AGOA in 2023: 23 tonnes of cassava flour and peanut butter.
US Embassy official Mary Emma Arnold praised the operation, carried out with USAID support (Food Business MEA, 2023).
This case shows that institutional support (embassy, development agency) can accelerate a first shipment, even for a lightly processed basic product.
YYTZ Agro-Processing, in Tanzania, was founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Fahad Awadh and his father to process and export cajou from a rehabilitated facility in Zanzibar.
The company had to convince reluctant banks before it could invest in its processing equipment (Asaase Radio).
For a comparable sector in West Africa, our guide to cajou processing in Côte d’Ivoire details the processing steps that increase export value.
Sourcing and Produce, in Nigeria, led by Lanre Awojoodu, began by exporting raw cacao to Europe before diversifying into cajou and ginger.
In 2021, the company launched its own brand, “So Pure”, and opened a shop on Amazon to reach US consumers directly, after encountering some resistance from US buyers in its early approaches (How We Made It In Africa).
These three trajectories share one thing in common: none of them exported directly to the United States on their first export sale.
All went through Europe, institutional support or a proprietary brand before reaching the US market.
This potential remains largely untapped across the continent.
A Carnegie Endowment study shows that Côte d’Ivoire — the world’s largest cacao exporter and a major cajou exporter — claimed AGOA benefits on only 3.7% of its exports to the United States between May 2002 and May 2025 (Carnegie Endowment, September 2025).
The majority of its cacao and cajou enters the United States duty-free through other routes, without going through the higher value-added processing that AGOA is meant to encourage.
A 90-day action plan before the 2026 window closes
With a firm deadline of 31 December 2026 and an uncertain outlook beyond it, every week counts for an SME starting now.
Here is a realistic sequence over three months.
| Weeks | Action |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Check your country’s eligibility on the current USTR list and your product’s eligibility on the corresponding AGOA tariff list |
| 3–4 | Calculate the local value-added share of your product (35% threshold) and adjust your supply chain if needed |
| 5–7 | Register your facility with the FDA and assemble your HACCP file / food safety management plan |
| 8–10 | Contact an AGOA Trade Resource Center or the Prosper Africa Trade Desk to identify a first buyer or distributor |
| 11–12 | Obtain a firm freight quote, check the surcharge rate currently in force for your country, and finalise your margin calculation before the first order |
This timeline does not guarantee immediate success.
But it avoids the most common mistake seen in the cases above: dispatching a first batch without having first verified the sanitary file or the actual tax rate applied to the country of origin that month.
FAQ
Is my country eligible for AGOA in 2026?
33 sub-Saharan African countries are designated eligible in 2026, but this number changes regularly based on USTR decisions. The only reliable way to check is to consult the official list of eligible countries published by the USTR before making any commercial commitment.
How much longer will AGOA last?
The programme is guaranteed until 31 December 2026, following a reauthorisation signed on 3 February 2026. No decision has yet been made for the period beyond that date, despite a House of Representatives vote in favour of a three-year extension.
Does AGOA exempt me from all US customs duties?
No. AGOA removes only the baseline customs duties (MFN tariff). Other taxes — such as the surcharge linked to forced labour investigations proposed in 2026 — may apply on top of that, even for a country eligible under AGOA.
Who is responsible for food safety with the FDA — me or my importer?
The legal responsibility under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) falls on the US importer. But in practice, an exporter who does not provide a solid HACCP file and quality controls will not find an importer willing to take on that risk.
Do I need to go through an intermediary to find a US buyer?
Not necessarily, but it is strongly recommended for a first shipment. AGOA Trade Resource Centers, the Prosper Africa Trade Desk, and specialist trade shows such as the Summer Fancy Food Show significantly reduce the time and risk of prospecting compared to going it alone.
What happens if AGOA is not renewed after 31 December 2026?
Products would lose the duty-free access granted by the programme and would again be subject to the base MFN tariff, in addition to any surcharges in force at that time. That is why SMEs starting today must treat this window as temporary and, at the same time, work on diversifying their markets.
