Congress has given the U.S. and African nations until December to decide what comes next for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). They should use that time to build a longer-term trade framework that offers more predictable, reciprocal commercial value to both sides.
For the past three years, the Embassy of Tanzania in Washington has joined advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill seeking a 10-year extension of the program. Textile and apparel products account for 95 percent of U.S.-Tanzania trade under AGOA. That stake led Tanzania to join the T-5, a public-private coalition of leading U.S. buyers and the four other leading apparel exporters under AGOA: Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Mauritius.
AGOA remains underused by many African countries and lacks reciprocity. Preferences can be withdrawn without notice, while reciprocal tariffs and unfair-trade duties can erode promised duty-free treatment.
The U.S. Trade Representative recently said all sides want an AGOA program that brings greater benefits to the U.S. and more concrete results for Africans. On March 29, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Jeffrey Goettman issued a Federal Register request for comments on AGOA modernization. Tanzania was one of nine African countries to submit recommendations.
U.S.-Tanzania trade rose from less than $400 million in 2021 to $1.4 billion in 2024, producing a U.S. trade surplus. AGOA supports U.S. jobs as well as Tanzanian industrialization. Tanzanian exports to the U.S. have served as inputs for more than 60,000 light manufacturers. It can also help expand trade in critical minerals and rare earth elements.
Tanzania has revived the Investment Incentive Agreement with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, established the U.S.-Tanzania Commercial Dialogue with the Department of Commerce, and signed a $500 million memorandum of understanding with the Export-Import Bank to support American exporters. Dallas and Dar es Salaam established their sister-city relationship last year, following the Mwanza-Tulsa partnership in 2024. Virginia led its first trade mission to Tanzania this month.
Yet Africa accounts for less than three percent of U.S. trade with the world. The imbalance is often described as David and Goliath, but it overlooks the scale of the opportunity. By 2050, Africa will account for at least one-quarter of the global labor force. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzania will drive much of the continent’s population growth. Africa also is a major source of the critical minerals and rare earth elements needed for batteries, clean energy, space technology, and defense-related manufacturing, even though less than 20 percent of its reserves have been surveyed.
Tanzania’s resource base is larger and more varied than many Americans realize. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the country holds Africa’s largest rare-earth reserves, alongside major deposits of nickel sulfide, high-grade graphite, and primary helium in the Rukwa Basin. U.S.-led projects at Mahenge, Kabanga, and Panda Hill could help diversify supply chains for battery-grade graphite, nickel, and niobium.
At full capacity, Mahenge alone could supply up to 15 percent of global battery-grade graphite demand; Kabanga could become a major non-Indonesian source of nickel; and Panda Hill could position Tanzania as the world’s fourth-largest niobium producer. New findings of vanadium and palladium could further expand that potential.
Tanzania, at roughly 1.4 times the size of Texas, would be the largest state in the contiguous U.S. Its position in East Africa gives U.S. companies access to a market of more than 500 million people across East, Central, and Southern Africa through the East African Community and Southern African Development Community.
Tanzania is one of Africa’s most diversified and fastest-growing economies, with GDP of about $100 billion. The economy grew by 5.9 percent in 2025, above global growth of 3.2 percent and Africa’s average of 4.1 percent. Inflation remained about 3.5 percent. Moody’s B1 rating and Fitch’s B+ rating, both renewed in 2026, are the highest sovereign credit ratings in East Africa.
Over the past five years in Washington, I have argued that commercial diplomacy should sit at the center of the U.S.-Tanzania relationship.
Modern manufacturing depends on robotics, advanced computing, autonomous factories, and AI-enabled production. America cannot lead in those industries without secure access to graphite, nickel, rare earth elements, and helium. Tanzania can contribute to that supply chain.
AGOA was designed to support Africa’s economic development. Its next phase should also create durable commercial opportunities for American firms and African producers.
An African proverb says that if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Before AGOA expires in December, Africans and Americans should create a 15-year trade blueprint that gives both sides a stronger stake in shared growth, more resilient supply chains, and a more competitive America-Africa economic relationship.
Dr. Elsie Sia Kanza is Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania to the U.S. and Mexico.
