PREVIEW
Despite US pledges, plans for AGOA revamp are unclear
South Africa, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia were among a group of over 20 countries to be issued with tariff letters from United States President Donald Trump’s administration this week. The first three have been told that they face tariffs of 30% on their exports on 1 August if they fail to offer improved trade terms to US exporters. Tunisia, meanwhile, has been threatened with a 25% rate, less than the 28% originally proposed.
Last week, three months after his so-called ‘Liberation Day tariffs’ announcement, Trump pushed a 9 July deadline to 1 August, during which a 10% levy will remain in place.
Progress on new trade arrangements have been slow and the US President has shown little interest in talks going beyond the duties on goods to tackle services or procurement arrangements. Instead, he has made clear that Washington will impose a minimum 10% tariff on all imports to promote US manufacturing.
Where the new tariff notices sit alongside the prospect of a revamped Africa Growth and Opportunity Act – promised by US officials at a US-Africa business summit in Luanda in June – is unclear. The Trump administration has indicated that AGOA, which currently offers over 30 African countries tariff- and quota-free access to the US market, will not be scrapped outright when it expires in September. But its main provisions are at odds with the tariffs and the policy motivation behind them (Dispatches, 7/4/25, Legal battles loom over Trump’s Africa tariffs).
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