US President Donald Trump’s Africa envoy signaled progress toward the renewal of a program allowing African nations duty-free access to the world’s largest economy.

“We understand that it’s moving positively in the right direction,” Massad Boulos, US senior adviser for Africa told Bloomberg News in an interview, noting Congress has been given until the end of the year to make a decision.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, which expired on Sept. 30 has been key to boosting trade relations between sub-Saharan Africa and the US since its inception in 2000. It granted tariff-free access to more than 1 800 products from 32 countries and can only be renewed by an act of Congress, which last happened in 2015.

Its lapse coincided with Trump’s harsh trade regime, which saw him slap levies on US trading partners in August. The International Trade Center calculates average duties on AGOA beneficiaries could raise to 13.9%.

The signs are that an extension would be short and cover all members that are party to or eligible for AGOA, Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, South Africa’s deputy director general for the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s trade branch, said earlier this month.

“The short extension will be a basis for the sub-Saharan African countries and the US to identify improvements,” Mlumbi-Peter said.

Two-way trade between the US and countries that qualify for market access under AGOA exceeded $47-billion in 2023, with US exports at $18.2-billion compared with US imports of $29.3-billion.