Duty-free, but still short of certainty
AGOA’s legal rescue has not delivered a commercial reset. The programme expired on September **, ****, and was restored in February **** with retroactive effect, but only until December **. In May, the regional apparel programme and third-country-fabric provision were formally extended through the same deadline.
According to TexPro, US imports under HS chapters ** and ** from the matched AGOA supplier group fell **.* per cent year on year to $***.* million in January–May ****, from $***.* million. Total US apparel imports declined *.* per cent, leaving the African group underperforming the market by about five percentage points.
USFIA’s separate analysis of OTEXA data produces a closely aligned **.* per cent decline. That convergence makes the direction clear: the short renewal preserved preferences but did not trigger a broad recovery in shipments.
