Kenyan exporters can breathe a sigh of relief after the United States President Donald Trump signed into law a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).The extension signed by Trump on Friday, September 4, will allow Kenyan traders duty-free access to the American market until December 31, 2028.While welcoming the move, the Kenyan government said the move provides much-needed certainty to exporters and thousands of workers whose jobs depend on preferential access to the U.S. market.Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui said the extension would particularly benefit Kenya's textile and apparel sector, which supports more than 66,000 direct jobs."The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to sign into law the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) through December 31, 2028, is highly welcome," Kinyanjui said.The extension was passed as part of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, a broader federal spending package approved by the U.S. Congress.The move comes amid pressure from some U.S. lawmakers to exclude South Africa from the agreement, which allows eligible African countries to export their products to the U.S. market duty-free.For Kenya, the extension comes as a major relief to manufacturers and exporters who had faced uncertainty for several months over the future of the trade programme.AGOA had been a key pillar of U.S.-Africa trade since 2000, granting eligible sub-Saharan African countries preferential access to the world's largest economy.The programme had originally lapsed in September 2025, forcing President Trump to sign a temporary one-year extension in February 2026.While the Trump administration had initially indicated that it wanted to overhaul the programme as part of its 'America First' agenda, the two-year extension now gives African exporters additional time to continue benefiting from the arrangement.Kinyanjui said Kenya must use the extended period to diversify its exports to the U.S. beyond textiles and apparel."Beyond apparel, our focus must now be on using this extended window to expand Kenya's export basket and increase the range and value of products reaching the U.S. market," Kinyanjui stated.
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