Throughout my tenure as Chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, one thing has always been evident: trade works best when it is built on relationships, trust, and time.
Agreements are not simply ink on paper, but signals to workers, farmers, and businesses about how the United States is committed to showing up, year after year, as a reliable partner. This principle has guided America’s engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa for more than two decades since the African Growth and Opportunity Act, better known as AGOA was created.
Since its inception, AGOA has stood at the center of U.S. economic policy and commercial engagement. It shaped countless trade relationships while advancing America’s own national security interests by creating new supply chains for critical minerals. Unfortunately, AGOA expired last year, putting all of this progress in jeopardy.
