Manufacturers in some parts of Africa are lobbying the US Congress to grant a last-ditch extension of one to two years to a duty-free trade programme, the African Growth and Opportunities Act AGOA, which is due to expire at the end of September, Reuters has gathered.
US President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies have cast doubt on the prospects for renewal of the AGOA trade initiative, which was passed in 2000 under former President Bill Clinton to provide duty-free access to the US market for thousands of products.
Delegations from Kenya and four other AGOA beneficiaries recently visited Washington to push for the temporary extension, said Pankaj Bedi, chairman of apparel company United Aryan, which supplies US retailers such as Target and Walmart.