The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a United States Trade Act, enacted on 18 May 2000 as Public Law 106 of the 200th Congress. The AGOA legislation has been renewed on different occasions, most recently in 2015, when its period of validity was extended to September 2025. 

The legislation significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. It does that by allocating a special program indicator (‘D’) to approximately 6,800 tariff lines in the US tariff schedule, which allows US importers to clear such goods – sourced from eligible African countries – duty-free under AGOA.

AGOA preferences build on the US Generalized System of Preferences, which is subject to more regular Congressional reauthorization. AGOA’s product coverage is also significantly more extensive than that of the GSP, and includes many products considered as sensitive. Products that are AGOA but not GSP eligible include items such as apparel and footwear, wine, certain motor vehicle components, a variety of agricultural products, chemicals, steel and many others.  

• AGOA – An overview of the US GSP and AGOA, similarities and differences https://agoa.info/images/documents/16299/agoainfo-guide-to-gsp-and-agoa.pdf