With the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of which Nigeria has been a beneficiary for over two decades, another opportunity has been presented for the country to strengthen trade and wean the economy away from oil by growing its non-oil exports.

With the United States (U.S.) Congress finally approved legislation to renew the trade pact, which gives duty-free access to the U.S. for thousands of goods from eligible sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria; non-oil exports, which the government has been trying to expand over the last few years, will receive a boost with access to the U.S markets.

The U.S. House passed the three-year extension overwhelmingly, and the Senate has now also approved it, clearing the way for the bill to be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

AGOA lapsed on September 30, 2025, putting African exports at risk of high U.S. tariffs. The renewed framework restores competitive, duty-free access for eligible products, reversing a potential blow to market access and jobs across the continent.

Trade experts have argued that this renewal restores a strategic competitive advantage for African producers, especially at a time global supply chains are shifting, and the U.S. is tightening tariffs and trade preferences under broader trade policies.

Enacted in 2000, AGOA was designed to provide duty-free access to the U.S. market for more than 1,800 products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries, in addition to preferences already available under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). It opened U.S. markets to everything from textiles and apparel to automotive components, agricultural goods, minerals and crude oil, helping some countries diversify their exports and create jobs.

However, Nigeria has yet to fully explore this trade pact, compared to other African countries that have exported non-oil goods to the U.S. worth billions of dollars in the last decade.

Over the last 25 years, U.S. imports from AGOA countries grew from millions to tens of billions of dollars, reflecting trade expansion and stronger commercial ties, even if Africa’s overall share of U.S. imports remained small.

While Nigeria has participated for over two decades, its exports have remained limited to crude oil and energy products. In 2024, the country’s total exports to the U.S. amounted to about $3.8 billion, dominated by mineral fuels and oils, and it remained one of the largest crude suppliers under AGOA preferences before the 2025 expiration.

Aside from crude oil and mineral fuels, which form the bulk of Nigeria’s export value, other products exported include fertilisers, lead products, raw cocoa and cocoa preparations, plastics and rubbers, which are, however, very small compared to energy exports.

From 2014 to 2018, Nigeria’s exports to the U.S. totalled $22.8 billion, with 2017 recording the strongest trade figures at $7.1 billion, thanks to a strong rebound under AGOA preferences. The years 2016 to 2018 saw notable increases in exports, largely crude oil and fuel, benefiting from AGOA’s duty-free access. Exports dipped sharply in 2019 and especially in 2020 (the pandemic year), before rebounding in 2021 and 2022 as markets reopened. From 2019 to 2024, trade totalled $24.5 billion, with 2022 and 2023 recording the strongest combined total of $12.6 billion, albeit dominated by crude and fuel exports.

Experts have noted that this renewal means lowering costs for Nigerian exporters and providing certainty for export contracts that were previously jeopardised when AGOA lapsed.