AGOA Extended Through December 31, 2028: What Importers Actually Get, What Still Stacks on Top (Section 301 and 232), and the Refund Deadline Most People Missed

# AGOA Is Extended Through December 31, 2028: What Importers Actually Get, What Still Stacks on Top, and the Deadline Most People Already Missed

On September 2, 2026, the President signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, and buried in the funding package was a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. AGOA, which had been running on a one-year patch set to expire December 31, 2026, now runs through December 31, 2028.

For importers sourcing apparel, footwear, agricultural goods, minerals and light manufactures from sub-Saharan Africa, that removes a cliff that was ninety-nine days away. But the headline undersells what matters at the entry line. The extension is a clean date change and nothing more: it does not touch the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs that took effect July 24, it does not override Section 232, it does not settle which countries are eligible in 2027, and it does not reopen the retroactive refund window that closed on August 2. Here is what the extension does and does not do, and how to structure entries now that the program has a 2028 end date.

What the September 2 extension changed

Three things, per the bill text and the trade press that followed its passage:

• The expiry date moved from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2028. No other amendments to the Act.
• All 32 currently designated beneficiary countries keep their status, including South Africa. Nobody was written out by the bill.
• The third-country fabric provision survives, which lets qualifying apparel assembled in lesser-developed beneficiary countries from non-AGOA yarns and fabrics still enter duty-free. For apparel importers, that provision is most of the program's commercial value.

Because AGOA never lapsed this time (the prior extension ran through year-end), there is no new gap and no new refund process. Entries made today are ordinary preferential claims.

How we got here: the 2025–2026 lapse in one paragraph

AGOA expired on September 30, 2025. For just over four months, eligible goods paid the full Column 1 rate. On February 3, 2026, H.R. 7148 reauthorized the program through December 31, 2026, retroactive to the lapse, and CBP reopened preferential claims at 12:01 a.m. on February 6 (quota programs on February 9). The Act allowed refunds, without interest, of Column 1 ad valorem duties paid on eligible goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption from October 1, 2025 through February 3, 2026 — but only if requested within 180 days. CBP's corrected instructions, CSMS #68987884 dated June 18, 2026, set that deadline at August 2, 2026: post summary corrections for unliquidated entries, protests for liquidated entries still in the protest period, and written requests through ACE DIS for entries past it. Filings after August 2 are rejected or denied.

If you paid lapse-period duty and did not file by August 2, the September 2 extension does not bring that money back. It only moved the end date.

What AGOA does and does not zero out

This is where most landed-cost models go wrong. AGOA eliminates the Column 1 general rate on eligible goods from eligible countries. It does not reach the Chapter 99 layers that now sit on top of most imports.

Section 232 is the hard stop. CBP's guidance is explicit: eligible AGOA goods that are subject to Section 232 duties or quotas may not receive the preference, under 19 U.S.C. 2463(b)(2). That is why South Africa's vehicle industry — historically AGOA's biggest user — called the extension breathing room rather than a win: the 25% Section 232 tariff on vehicles and parts applies regardless, and South African vehicle exports to the U.S. fell 83% between 2024 and 2025.

Section 301 is the layer people forget. The forced-labor action that replaced Section 122 covers roughly 60 economies, and the investigation's in-scope list named a long run of AGOA countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique and Angola among them) — confirm your origin's final tier with your broker. South African goods are reported at the 12.5% tier. The confirmed carve-outs were oil and gas, fertilizer and USMCA-qualifying goods — not AGOA goods. Unless your specific line is exempted in the annex, the 301 duty applies on top of a zero Column 1 rate.

A worked example: a $100,000 entry of garments from a 10%-tier AGOA country with a 16% general rate.

• Claimed correctly under AGOA: $0 Column 1 + $10,000 Section 301 = $10,000 plus fees.
• Preference not claimed: $16,000 Column 1 + $10,000 Section 301 = $26,000 plus fees.
• Same goods from a 12.5%-tier origin, claimed: $12,500.

So AGOA is still worth 16 points on that line — but the duty bill is not zero, and any model that assumes it is will understate landed cost by the full 301 layer. Run the stack for your own lines in the Tariff Stacking Calculator, then convert it to per-unit cost in the Landed Cost Calculator.

How to claim it correctly

The mechanics carried over unchanged from CBP's February reinstatement guidance:

1. Non-textile goods: file the Chapters 1–97 HTS number with special program indicator "D", citing General Note 16.
2. Textile and apparel goods: file the Chapters 1–97 HTS number paired with the applicable Chapter 98 number (9819.11.03 through 9819.11.33, or 9802.00.80.42). Do not file SPI "D" on textile lines. Normal visa requirements apply to current entries.
3. Quota-limited goods: use the 2026 AGOA quota bulletin (QB 26-407) and watch for the 2027 limits.
4. Keep origin support on file: certificate of origin and a costed bill of materials showing the origin of each material. CBP required both to support lapse-period protests, and they are what a post-entry verification will ask for.

Missed SPI "D" on entries since February? You still have normal remedies

The August 2 deadline applied only to lapse-period entries (October 1, 2025 – February 3, 2026). Anything entered on or after February 4 is a current preferential claim, so ordinary correction avenues apply:

• Unliquidated entries: file a post summary correction adding the SPI or Chapter 98 number. PSCs must be filed within 300 days of entry and at least 15 days before scheduled liquidation.
• Liquidated entries: protest within 180 days of liquidation.

One sequencing trap to check now: if the same entries are going into an IEEPA refund claim, CBP requires any PSC to be filed before the CAPE declaration, and once a CAPE declaration is accepted a PSC can no longer be filed. With CAPE Phase 3 opening October 6, clean up AGOA claims on overlapping entries first.

Country eligibility is still decided every year

Congress decides whether AGOA exists. The President decides, each calendar year, which countries are eligible — on criteria covering market access, rule of law, worker and human rights, and U.S. foreign-policy interests. USTR opened its annual eligibility review for calendar year 2027 on June 30, 2026, and the outcome has not been announced. Two bills seeking South Africa's removal are pending, though neither has moved far.

Eligibility can also come back: Gabon was reinstated for 2026 by Presidential Proclamation 11030 on May 19, 2026, for non-textile goods only.

The practical consequence is that a program "extended through 2028" can still end for a given origin on January 1, 2027, if that country is not re-designated. Anyone who has built duty-free access through 2028 into a sourcing plan, a supplier contract or a bank covenant should treat the country-level decision as open until the 2027 designations publish.

Where a bonded warehouse fits

AGOA preference applies to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption while the program and the country's designation are in effect. The rate is set on the day the goods leave bond, not the day they land — and that turned out to matter a great deal in the last cycle. Importers who held goods in a customs bonded warehouse through the October–February lapse could withdraw after February 6 at zero Column 1 duty with no refund paperwork at all, while importers who entered for consumption during the lapse had to chase refunds against a 180-day clock, and some missed it.

The same logic applies to the three events still ahead:

• The January 1, 2027 eligibility decision. If an origin looks at risk, the protective move runs *forward*: withdraw AGOA goods for consumption before December 31, 2026, while the designation is certain. If an origin has been suspended and a reinstatement looks possible (as Gabon's was), holding under bond keeps the zero rate available on withdrawal without a retroactive claim.
• Section 301 tier changes. Tiers are live — India moved from 12.5% to 10% by legislating an import ban between the June proposal and the July final action. If your AGOA supplier country is working toward a qualifying prohibition, goods held in bond pay whichever tier is in force on the day you withdraw.
• The December 31, 2028 sunset. Another lapse in 2029 is plausible given the pattern of short extensions. Goods in bond when a lapse hits are the ones that avoid both the duty and the refund process.

Under a Type 21 warehouse entry, goods can stay up to five years, and you withdraw in whatever quantities your sales need. The Duty Deferral Calculator shows what holding a given value under bond is worth at your cost of capital.

What to do this week

1. Update the program end date in your landed-cost models and supplier contracts from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2028 — with a note that country eligibility for 2027 is not yet confirmed.
2. Add the Section 301 layer to every AGOA line whose origin is in scope. A zero Column 1 rate is not a zero duty bill.
3. Screen AGOA lines against Section 232. If a line is 232-covered, the preference does not apply.
4. Audit entries since February 4 for missing SPI "D" or Chapter 98 numbers, and file PSCs or protests while the normal windows are open — before any CAPE declaration on the same entries.
5. Pull origin documentation (certificates and costed bills of materials) into the entry file now, not when CBP asks.
6. Decide your 2027 posture by origin. For at-risk origins, plan withdrawals before year-end; for stable origins, keep holding in bond while 301 tiers settle.

For multi-line invoices, importers commonly run the per-line classification and duty stack — Column 1, SPI eligibility, 301 tier, 232 screen — in software such as Zonos rather than rebuilding a spreadsheet every time a proclamation posts. (Disclosure: this is an affiliate link — FreightFigures may earn a commission if you sign up, at no additional cost to you. See our full affiliate disclosure.) Eligibility and origin determinations on high-value lines should be reviewed by a licensed customs broker.

Bottom line

The extension removes the program-level cliff until the end of 2028, and that is real value: sixteen points on an apparel line is margin. But AGOA now zeroes one layer in a stack of several. Section 301 still applies to most beneficiary origins, Section 232 goods are excluded outright, eligibility is re-decided every January, and the retroactive refunds from the last lapse are gone for anyone who missed August 2. The importers who came through the last lapse cleanly were the ones whose goods were sitting in bond when the program came back. With a country-level decision due January 1 and 301 tiers still moving, keeping AGOA inventory under bond and withdrawing on your own schedule is the cheapest insurance available. For cargo moving through the Southeast, Charleston's bonded warehouses sit minutes from the terminals.

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