Sponsors (2)
The bill extends duty‑free treatment for eligible African apparel and preserves customs fee authority to maintain trade continuity and CBP funding, at the cost of reduced tariff revenue, continued fees for importers/consumers, administrative burdens, and limits on some future beneficiary eligibility.
Apparel exporters in beneficiary sub‑Saharan African countries regain duty‑free access to U.S. markets through Dec 31, 2028, supporting their sales and helping preserve jobs in U.S. apparel and retail supply chains that rely on duty‑free inputs.
U.S. importers and businesses can file retroactive claims to recover duties for qualifying entries made after Sept 30, 2025, and (if owed) receive reimbursements on a predictable 90‑day schedule, reducing net import costs and cash‑flow uncertainty.
Small businesses, importers, and Customs and Border Protection operations avoid an immediate policy gap because authority to collect customs user and merchandise processing fees is extended through Dec 31, 2031, preserving fee funding that supports CBP operations and steady trade processing.
U.S. taxpayers face reduced tariff revenue because extending duty‑free preferences lowers collections, which could increase deficits or crowd out other federal spending priorities.
Importers and ultimately consumers continue to bear customs user and merchandise processing fees because the fee‑collection authority is extended through 2031, keeping import costs and potential retail prices higher than if fees lapsed or were reduced.
Customs and Treasury will face administrative strain and tight deadlines to process retroactive reliquidation claims and payments, increasing workload and potential processing delays or errors.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Extends AGOA-related trade-preference expirations to Dec 31, 2028, moves customs fee authorities to Dec 31, 2031, and allows limited retroactive duty/preference relief for qualifying imports.
Extends existing trade-preference expiration dates under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and related Trade Act provisions from September 30, 2025 to December 31, 2028, and moves short expirations for certain U.S. customs user fee and merchandise processing fee authorities from September 30, 2031 to December 31, 2031. It also allows limited retroactive duty-free/preferential treatment for qualifying imports entered after September 30, 2025 and before the law’s enactment if importers request liquidation or reliquidation within 180 days and pay any owed amounts within 90 days without interest. The law defines which beneficiary countries and entries are covered for the retroactive relief and updates statutory citations to reflect the new expiration dates.
Introduced December 9, 2025 by Jason Smith · Last progress January 13, 2026