AGOA was initially scheduled for renegotiation in September, but President Mahama explained that the US administration under Donald Trump disrupted the global trade system by imposing tariffs on countries that previously enjoyed duty-free access, leaving little hope for the agreement’s renewal.

He made the remarks during his first presidential media encounter of his second term in office.

“Countries like Africa enjoyed zero tariffs in the US because we were in the developing world. It was a concession that the US gave. In comes President Trump. He has a more transactional mindset. He says the US has been taken for granted for longtime, so even countries like Ghana in Africa, he slapped a 15% tariff on us from zero tariff.

“AGOA is technically dead. It was due for renegotiation in September [but] there is no way with this 15% tariff, AGOA is going to be renewed. We are just watching carefully. The power to impose tariff is that of Congress but in this case, the US president [Donald Trump] always pushes the limit,” he said.

Since its enactment in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been at the core of U.S. economic policy and commercial engagement with Africa.

AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for over 1,800 products, in addition to the more than 5,000 products that are eligible for duty-free access under the Generalized System of Preferences program.

In 2015, Congress passed legislation modernizing and extending the program to 2025. However, the Trump administration’s shift toward protectionist trade measures raised doubts about the programme’s continuation.