President Donald Trump has extended a 26-year-old free-trade agreement with African countries that was left in doubt last year when his administration allowed it to expire while enforcing his policy of reciprocal tariffs.

Trump on Tuesday signed into law an extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

But the extension is short-term, lasting only until December 31. The trade office said the agreement, which gives eligible sub-Saharan African nations duty-free access to the US market for some products, would be modified to account for tariffs the US has imposed on other countries as part of the Republican president’s America First policy.

The agreement is key to many African countries that feared it would be another economic blow following the new tariffs and cuts to US aid under Trump.

AGOA was introduced in 2000 under former US President Bill Clinton. Only some nations are eligible, and the US can remove countries that fail to meet requirements, including establishing market-based economies or upholding democratic standards and human rights.

The East African nation of Uganda was removed in 2024 by the Biden administration for enacting a strict anti-gay law that the US called a human rights violation.

The agreement allows some 1,800 products to be exported to the US duty-free, including crude oil, cars and car parts, clothing, textiles and agricultural produce. It drives much of the trade between the US and Africa, which was valued at more than $100 billion in 2024 by the US trade office.

AGOA included 34 African countries when the Trump administration allowed the expiration at the end of September, with many businesses in those nations claiming the end of the deal would endanger tens of thousands of jobs.

The extension until the end of 2026 is short compared to the 10-year extension agreement when it previously came up for renewal in 2015.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement on Tuesday that the Trump administration would work with Congress “to modernise the program to align with President Trump’s America First trade policy” without giving details of possible changes.

South Africa, the continent’s most advanced economy and one of the biggest beneficiaries of AGOA, said it welcomed the renewal but was concerned by the short-term nature of the extension. Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau told South African news outlet News24 that he hoped the US would soon “provide certainty” of the AGOA details.

The Trump administration has applied political pressure on sub-Saharan Africa’s two biggest economies, South Africa and Nigeria, leaving them uncertain where they might fit into a renewed form of the agreement that is highly important to both nations.

Trump has criticized the South African government as anti-American and made baseless claims that a white minority group in the country is being violently persecuted. The US has applied 30 per cent tariffs, among the highest in the world, raising fears that its biggest African trade partner would be removed from AGOA due to the diplomatic fallout.

Similarly, US ties with Nigeria have been strained over Trump’s allegations that Christians are being persecuted in Africa’s most populous country, claims officials say are inaccurate.

Trump’s America First policy has been especially hard on Africa by cutting billions of dollars for the now-dismantled United States Aid Agency while imposing tariffs on small or struggling economies. Some African countries such as Lesotho have said the double blow has been almost impossible to bear.

The US has moved to renegotiate assistance methods for Africa, including a series of bilateral health agreements announced in recent months. The pledges of assistance also commit African nations to invest in their own health systems, which the Trump administration says will improve self-sufficiency and cut waste.

The US has called on African nations to remove trade barriers to American imports. The US trade office said AGOA would follow the America First policy and “must demand more from our trading partners.”

The aggressive trade policies have pushed some African nations to enhance ties with other countries or regions, especially China, which is already the continent’s largest trading partner.

• An AP report