Congress Extends AGOA and Haiti HOPE/HELP for Two Years

Congress has passed a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HOPE/HELP), folding the trade measures into the Continuing Resolution that funds the federal government. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest business lobbying organization, welcomed the move on the day of passage from its Washington, DC headquarters.

Joshua Walker, Chief International Affairs Officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, issued the organization's formal statement applauding the extension. His remarks framed the short-term renewal as a down payment on a bigger structural fix rather than an endpoint.

"This two-year extension is a critical first step towards providing the long-term certainty that American businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti need to make meaningful investment decisions," Walker said. "We urge Congress to use this window to modernize both programs and advance their long-term reauthorization. Durable renewal is crucial to incentivize greater cross-border investment and ensure the U.S. remains the partner of choice in these dynamic regions."

The statement positions the Chamber's lobbying agenda for the two-year window that the extension now opens. Walker called on lawmakers to treat the period as a working deadline — a chance to update both programs' design and lock in a durable, longer-term reauthorization before the next expiration cliff approaches.

The stakes, in the Chamber's telling, run deeper than tariff preferences for apparel and other goods. Walker's statement cast the two programs as instruments of American strategic competition, arguing that their value extends into geopolitics as much as commerce.

"These programs also function as essential tools of American strategic competition," Walker said. "As state-directed, non-market actors seek to expand their commercial and diplomatic footprint across Africa and the Western Hemisphere, AGOA an..."

The statement, as published by the Chamber, continues beyond that point, but the released excerpt cuts off mid-sentence. The published text's direction is nonetheless clear: the Chamber views AGOA and HOPE/HELP as counterweights to state-directed economic rivals expanding across two regions the United States considers strategically significant.

The legislative vehicle matters. By attaching the extension to the Continuing Resolution — the stopgap spending bill that keeps the federal government funded — lawmakers avoided a standalone trade fight while still preventing the programs from lapsing. That legislative choice delivers the certainty Walker referenced, but only on a two-year clock, which is precisely why the Chamber paired its applause with a demand for structural follow-through.

AGOA governs U.S. trade preferences for eligible sub-Saharan African countries, while HOPE and HELP provide preferential access to the U.S. market for Haitian-produced goods, most prominently apparel. Both programs shape investment decisions by American companies operating in those regions — decisions Walker argued require horizon beyond a two-year horizon to justify capital commitments.

The Chamber's argument rests on a straightforward premise: cross-border investment follows durability. Preferences that expire on a rolling basis invite hesitation from businesses weighing factories, supply chains, and long-lived assets in sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti. A "durable renewal," in Walker's words, is the mechanism that converts short-term access into patient capital.

The strategic framing carries equal weight in the statement. Walker identified "state-directed, non-market actors" as actively expanding their commercial and diplomatic presence across Africa and the Western Hemisphere — an implicit reference to competing powers whose state-backed enterprises do not face the same market discipline as private Western firms. In that context, trade preference programs double as instruments of economic statecraft, signaling U.S. commitment to partners in both regions.

The Chamber's message to Congress is therefore two-sided: credit for acting, pressure to finish the job. The organization applauded the two-year bridge while making clear it regards the measure as a "first step" — its own words — toward modernization and full reauthorization.

What comes next is a legislative race against the clock the extension itself created. The Chamber is urging Congress to use the window for substantive reform of both programs, and the business lobby's endorsement of modernization signals it will push for changes to program design during the reauthorization debate rather than a simple status-quo rollover. How lawmakers respond will determine whether the two-year extension becomes a bridge to durable policy or another cycle of deadline-driven renewals.