The United States (US) House of Representatives has approved a three-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), with strong bipartisan support ahead of consideration in the Senate. While AGOA has historically been positioned as a market access initiative, its latest expansion is increasingly positioning it as a strategic economic tool aimed at reshaping the world’s critical mineral supply chains and diluting China’s dominance across Africa. As global competition for African minerals continues to intensify, a central question remains: Can AGOA go beyond tariff incentives and become a catalyst for U.S.-led mineral development and export diversification in Africa?
Why African minerals and why now?
Critical minerals sit at the intersection of geopolitics, industrial policy and energy transition economies, and Africa, which accounts for 30% of the world’s reserves, is at the center of these discussions. The continent contains 55% of the world’s cobalt reserves, 80% of platinum, 62% of chromium, and 25% of natural graphite, as well as large reserves of lithium, copper, and rare earths. Southern and Central Africa is of particular importance, with countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe having large, high-grade, and significant mineral reserves.
Although these countries have been producing for decades, much of their critical mineral potential remains underutilized, constrained by limited downstream processing, infrastructure bottlenecks, and historically narrow export routes. DRC Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba told Energy Capital & Power at Africa Mining Week 2025 that 90% of the country’s mineral reserves remain untapped.
“The opportunities are huge. Less than 10% of our mineral resources are under exploration or development. We have greenfield exploration opportunities as well as investments in existing assets, some of which are in financial distress and need capital,” he said. This highlights important investment opportunities for international partners.
Strategic minerals, strategic realignment
The extension of AGOA represents a unique opportunity for African countries to address industry challenges. For the United States, this extension could counter China’s dominance of Africa’s minerals market. Congressional debate over this extension explicitly referenced China’s estimated $10 billion footprint across Africa’s mineral supply chain, spanning long-term mining contracts, refinery ownership, and transportation corridors. Lawmakers argued that extending AGOA would provide preferential market access as a lever to reduce dependence on the single market and foster alternative partnerships that would diversify Africa’s export options.
This update also aligns closely with the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2025, placing critical minerals at the core of bilateral cooperation and linking trade, investment, and supply chain security under a single framework. This partnership is already in place, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo exporting 100,000 tonnes of copper to the United States in January 2026. A key pillar of the partnership is the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Strategic Asset Reserve (SAR). This is a policy measure designed to protect priority mineral resources, ensure reliable offtake partners and encourage value-added investments in line with Western supply chain standards. Combined with AGOA’s duty-free access to the U.S. market, SAR strengthens the commercial case for U.S. participation in African mining projects.
Strengthening logistics and rebalancing exports
But trade policy alone cannot realign supply chains without parallel investment in logistics. Historically, African minerals have flowed east through infrastructure tailored to China’s needs and processing capacity. Breaking this pattern requires physical alternatives. This is where the Lobito Corridor becomes strategically important. Connecting the mineral regions of DRC and Zambia to the port of Lobito in Angola, this corridor provides an export route to the west. Lobito, backed by US and European partners, is the logistical backbone of the redirected transatlantic mineral trade and is seen as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Global commitment to this corridor exceeds $6 billion, highlighting its importance in the global context.
Importantly, AGOA is not trying to exclude China from Africa’s mining sector. Instead, competitive balance is introduced. Expanding export options and end markets will enable African producers to price risk, diversify partnerships and retain greater value at home. With extensions limited to three years, AGOA’s latest measures represent a narrow but significant outcome. In collaboration with initiatives such as SAR and the Lobito Corridor, it has the potential to strategically utilize Africa’s mineral resources and support industrial development while rebuilding global supply chains.
