AGOA has played an important role in supporting African apparel exports to the United States. Its significance for the sector has historically extended beyond tariffs because the programme’s apparel provisions have helped make African production commercially viable within global sourcing networks.

But an important structural question remains: how much industrial value is actually being retained within Africa?

A garment factory can generate employment and export revenue while remaining heavily dependent on imported yarns, fabrics, trims, machinery and other inputs. In such circumstances, Africa participates in the final stage of the value chain without necessarily developing the industrial capabilities that sit behind it. This distinction is particularly important because textile manufacturing is where much of the industrial infrastructure connecting cotton to clothing is developed.

Spinning creates yarn, weaving and knitting create fabric; dyeing and finishing create commercially differentiated textile products; while garment manufacturing then transforms these inputs into finished products for consumers. Where the first three stages remain weak, apparel production remains structurally dependent on external suppliers.

AGOA’s textile and apparel provisions have historically provided mechanisms through which African apparel producers could use qualifying fabrics and inputs under specified rules. The U.S. trade framework recognizes specific rules governing qualifying apparel and certain third-country fabrics, illustrating how closely sourcing arrangements are connected to preferential access. This creates both an opportunity and a strategic dilemma.

The opportunity is that African manufacturers can participate in global apparel supply chains even where domestic textile capacity remains incomplete. The dilemma is that prolonged dependence on imported intermediate inputs can limit the development of a deeper African manufacturing ecosystem.

For African industrial policymakers, the objective should therefore be to use apparel exports as a platform for industrial upgrading, rather than allowing apparel assembly to become the permanent endpoint of industrial development. This means using export demand to stimulate investment in spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing; textile machinery, technical skills, testing and certification; logistics, supplier development, and regional textile manufacturing. The strategic goal should be to gradually increase the amount of African value embedded within products exported under AGOA.

This is where AGOA and AfCFTA can become complementary. AfCFTA can support the development of regional textile inputs and production networks, while AGOA provides an external market into which competitive African products can be exported. The resulting model would move from:

African cotton → imported fabric → African garment → U.S. market toward African cotton → African yarn → African fabric → African apparel → U.S. market.

The first model generates exports while the second begins to build an industrial ecosystem. The objective should be to ensure that more of the value embedded in those garments is created within Africa.

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