By Franklin Asare-Donkoh
President John Dramani Mahama has suggested that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is unlikely to be renewed following the United States’ imposition of tariffs on exports.
US President Donald Trump, after assuming office, introduced trade tariffs on several African countries, including Ghana, which now faces a 15% tariff on exports to the US market.
AGOA was scheduled for renegotiation in September 2025, but President Mahama explained that the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on countries that previously enjoyed duty-free access disrupted the global trade system, leaving little hope for the agreement’s renewal.
Speaking during his maiden presidential media encounter since assuming office on 7 January 2025, President Mahama said:
“Countries in Africa enjoyed zero tariffs in the US because we were in the developing world. It was a concession that the US gave. Then came President Trump, who has a more transactional mindset.
“He says the US has been taken for granted for a long time, so even countries like Ghana in Africa are slapped with a 15% tariff from a zero tariff.
“AGOA is technically dead. It was due for renegotiation in September, but there is no way with this 15% tariff that AGOA is going to be renewed.
“We are just watching carefully. The power to impose tariffs is that of Congress, but in this case, the US president, Donald Trump, always pushes the limit.”
Since its enactment in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act has been central to US economic policy and commercial engagement with Africa.
AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the US market for over 1,800 products, in addition to the more than 5,000 products eligible under the Generalized System of Preferences programme.
In 2015, Congress passed legislation modernising and extending the programme to 2025. However, the Trump administration’s protectionist trade measures have cast doubt on its continuation.
