Senate passes two-year extension of Haiti HOPE and HELP trade programs

The U.S. Senate has passed a two-year extension of the Haiti HOPE and HELP trade preference programs, pushing their expiration date from the end of this year to Dec. 31, 2028.

The extension, approved with bipartisan support as part of a Continuing Resolution, also renews the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for the same two-year period, according to a press release from the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and a press release from the office of Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who helped secure the measure. Both trade programs had lapsed on Sept. 30, 2025, and were only retroactively restored for 15 months this past February, the AAFA release said.

Warnock, ranking member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness, said in the press release that the renewal preserves duty-free access on more than 1,800 products from eligible AGOA countries and continues duty-free treatment for Haitian apparel and textile goods under HOPE and HELP. Warnock called the deal a “win-win for Georgians and our trading partners in Haiti and Africa,” saying it would ease consumer costs while helping stabilize partner economies.

HOPE and HELP have underpinned Haiti’s apparel and textile sector for more than 15 years by granting the country duty-free access to the U.S. market, according to the AAFA release — a lifeline for a sector that made up the vast majority of Haiti’s export earnings before the programs’ brief lapse last fall. 

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) applauded the bill’s passage in the Senate and called on the Trump administration to provide more development assistance to Haiti.

“I led the Senate in extending the HOPE/HELP trade preferences to protect and support key parts of the Haitian economy as we fight back against the gangs to establish peace, prosperity, and stability,” Schumer said via email to The Haitian Times. “We must continue to push the Trump administration to increase humanitarian and development assistance to support critical investments in Haiti’s health, education, and housing systems.”

The New York Democrat deplored Republicans’ action in fueling a humanitarian crisis in the U.S. and in Haiti by deciding not to extend the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) so that hard-working Haitians can continue to serve American communities in the health care, transportation, manufacturing, service industries and beyond. 

“This administration is not only threatening to send TPS holders back into a nation in crisis, but they will deepen that crisis by both hurting the American economy and depriving Haiti of the remittances these very TPS holders send home, Schumer said. “I will continue to fight to extend TPS to protect our neighbors, who have done nothing but fight for a better life for themselves and their families.”  

Warnock’s office noted that the HELP Act, passed after the 2010 earthquake, broadened duty-free eligibility to more than 5,000 categories of apparel and footwear and has helped rebuild part of Haiti’s domestic industry. AGOA, in place for 25 years, extends similar duty-free treatment to eligible sub-Saharan African nations, the AAFA release said.

AAFA Vice President of Trade and Customs Policy Beth Hughes said in the group’s press release that the extension gives the industry room to work toward something more permanent, calling it a step toward “a predictable, long-term continuation of these programs.” AAFA is now pressing the House to pass the extension quickly and for the president to sign it into law.

The renewed push for stability comes months after Congress retroactively revived the two programs in February after they expired, a lapse that put tens of thousands of Haitian garment-sector jobs at risk. Industry groups at the time welcomed that fix but said only a longer-term renewal would give manufacturers the certainty to invest. This latest extension, now heading to the House, would answer that call — pushing the next expiration date out two more years, to the end of 2028.

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