Tariffs dominated the industry’s advocacy conversations in 2025, but the Association also keeps tabs on other trade issues pertinent to the industry, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This trade preference program has facilitated duty-free imports from participating countries since 2000, but it was allowed to lapse at the end of September 2025.
Support for renewing AGOA was a key message during PPAI’s Legislative Education and Action Day in 2025. It’s also particularly important to SanMar, PPAI 100’s No. 1 supplier, which has a continued presence in Africa through its factory partnerships and programs, including internships in Tanzania since 2023.
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In 2024, Melissa Nelson, SanMar’s general counsel and corporate secretary, testified in support of AGOA in front of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
- In her testimony, Nelson noted that sub-Saharan Africa provides a viable sourcing alternative to China, but that is dependent on the long-term renewal of AGOA.
“AGOA supports thousands of U.S. small businesses in the promotional products industry by keeping core promotional goods affordable and supply chains stable,” Nelson told PPAI Media this week. “Renewing AGOA keeps U.S. distributors and decorators strong, competitive and able to deliver the products American businesses rely on.”
Various efforts to renew the program surfaced and failed in Congress in 2025, but in a July interview with political site Punchbowl News, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) expressed interest in several bipartisan measures, including renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Melissa Nelson
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, SanMar
Through the Association’s partners in Washington, PPAI sent a letter to Smith right after Labor Day encouraging him to pursue a 10-year renewal of AGOA. The letter explained that without this program, apparel and textile imports from Africa face tariffs as high as 32% and that the sudden cost increase would ripple throughout the supply chain, raising prices and straining the small and mid-sized businesses that form the backbone of the promotional products industry.
Smith introduced the AGOA Extension Act in December, which would renew the program through 2028, including retroactively application since its lapse. That bill was passed by the House on January 12 and has been reported to the Senate.
- In his remarks on the House floor, Smith said: “While we still need a longer-term AGOA extension, this reauthorization provides a much-needed level of certainty and stability in the near term so that Congress can continue its work on future reforms to address and strengthen U.S. priorities.”
- In an effort to fast-track its passage in the Senate, the measure has since been added to the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2026, one of the funding bills that must be passed by the end of January to avoid another federal government shutdown.
PPAI sent Smith another letter this week thanking him for his leadership and support for statutory trade preferences as a reliable and consistent tool for American businesses.
While it isn’t the 10-year renewal PPAI supports, a three-year extension is nonetheless an important win for the industry. Renewing AGOA will prevent disruptive cost increases while supporting supply chain diversification for U.S. businesses. PPAI will continue to monitor the issue as we await passage of the measure.
For questions or suggestions on regulatory or government affairs issues, please contact Rachel Zoch at RachelZ@ppai.org.
