KPMG says White House extends AGOA and CBERA duty-free treatment

KPMG’s trade team now has a clearer runway to help clients reset sourcing and pricing plans after the White House extended duty-free treatment under AGOA and CBERA through December 31, 2026. For importers that depend on those preferences, the immediate question is no longer whether the programs survive this year, but how quickly contracts, landed-cost models, and customs filings can be aligned with the new end date.

The proclamation, signed on May 19, extended duty-free treatment for beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, the AGOA regional apparel article program, and the third-country fabric program through the end of 2026. It also extended Haiti’s duty-free treatment under CBERA through the same date and made a technical correction tied to earlier extensions of the third-country fabric program. For apparel brands, sourcing managers, and customs advisers, that means production decisions tied to eligible fabric flows can move forward with less fear that preferences will expire mid-cycle.

The practical value is in the planning certainty. Importers can now model duty-free entry through the rest of 2026, rather than treating AGOA and CBERA as short-term exceptions. That should matter most in sectors with long lead times, especially apparel and other products built around origin rules, fabric sourcing, and supplier commitments in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean Basin. Gabon’s redesignation as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country, effective January 1, 2026, also shows that eligibility can shift country by country, so origin reviews still need to be specific, not generic.

The documentation burden did not go away. A February 12 Federal Register notice said qualifying apparel imported during the lapse from October 1, 2025 to February 2, 2026 could still receive preferential treatment if importers seek liquidation or reliquidation from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That is the kind of detail that matters in audit trails, broker instructions, and post-entry review, especially for KPMG teams helping clients clean up entries that were filed while the program had lapsed.

The timing also matters inside KPMG and client organizations because the policy reset came while the Office of the United States Trade Representative was already asking for comments on AGOA modernization on April 29. That means 2026 is now split between short-term certainty and longer-term change: the current preference system is extended, but the shape of the next one is still in play. For trade, tax, and supply chain teams, the work now is to use the extra months to tighten compliance, confirm eligibility, and avoid leaving duty savings on the table.