Lesotho’s trade minister said Wednesday that the United States intends to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by one year, offering temporary relief for African exporters who rely on the deal for preferential access to U.S. markets.
The announcement followed a Lesotho trade delegation’s visit to Washington from September 15 to 19, Reuters reported.
The future of AGOA, a trade pact that has lasted nearly 25 years, was cast into doubt after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on April 4 that hit African countries hard. For Lesotho, the world’s highest tariff of 50 percent on textiles and apparel under what Trump called “Liberation Day” was especially devastating.
The small mountain kingdom’s economy is heavily dependent on garment factories producing jeans and T-shirts for U.S. buyers.
Trump later reduced the tariff to 15 percent in August, but the damage left Lesotho’s export-driven development model vulnerable.
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Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development Mokhethi Shelile, who led the delegation, told reporters on Wednesday that they met with U.S. lawmakers overseeing AGOA, including members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
“They all agreed that AGOA has to be extended and they promised us that by November or December (at) the latest, it will be extended by a year,” Shelile said.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shelile cautioned that Lesotho would continue to press for clarity on the timeline.
“We will be … monitoring closely … that the extension comes into force as promised, because if it doesn’t, we are risking losing more jobs,” he warned.
Meanwhile, a senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee told Reuters: “The Trump administration hasn’t informed Finance Committee Democrats its position on renewing AGOA. Ranking Member Wyden continues to support renewing the program.”
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Image Credit: The Reporter Lesotho
