Trade agreements and special programs: USMCA, GSP, AGOA, and CBTPA

Trade agreements and special programs are one of the exam’s persistent categories: questions ask which program applies to which country group, who may certify origin, and how long a claim window stays open. This guide covers the program the exam tests hardest, the USMCA, and then the special preference programs candidates most often confuse: GSP, AGOA, and CBTPA/CBERA. The single most important thing to know about this topic area is which programs are currently authorized and which have lapsed, because an exam question can test either state. For the legacy program the USMCA replaced, see the special entry types guide and the corpus map, which places Part 181 (legacy NAFTA) next to Part 182.

What is the USMCA, and where does it live in the regulations?

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, and its customs regulations sit in 19 CFR Part 182, organized into eleven subparts covering general provisions, import and export requirements, post-importation refund claims, rules of origin, origin verifications, restrictions on drawback and duty-deferral, textile and apparel rules, automotive rules, commercial samples, and penalties. The legacy NAFTA regulations remain printed in Part 181 only because pre-2020 claims are still adjudicated under the law in effect when they were filed, the same “current Part governs, legacy Part is a distractor” trap tested elsewhere in the exam’s special-entry and drawback questions.

A good qualifies for USMCA preferential tariff treatment if it meets the rules of origin in Part 182 Subpart F, which generally require the good to be wholly obtained or produced in the USMCA region, produced entirely from originating materials, or to undergo a specified tariff shift or satisfy a regional value content requirement. Automotive goods and textile and apparel goods each carry their own detailed origin rules under Subparts I and H, reflecting how politically load-bearing those two sectors were in the agreement’s negotiation.

Who can certify that a good qualifies for USMCA treatment?

This is a frequently tested mechanical fact. Under 19 CFR 182.11, a certification of origin may be completed by the importer, exporter, or producer of the good. This is a meaningful departure from NAFTA, which restricted certification to the exporter, and it is exactly the kind of “what changed” fact the exam likes to test. There is no prescribed form: the certification must contain a minimum data set (importer, exporter, and producer identification, description and classification of the good, and the applicable origin criterion) but the format is flexible, including as a statement on an invoice.

What if a claim was not made at entry? The post-importation refund window

An importer who did not claim USMCA preferential treatment when the goods entered is not out of options. 19 CFR 182.31 allows the importer to file a claim for a refund of excess duties within 1 year after the date of importation, by submitting a written declaration that the good qualified at the time of importation, supporting documentation, and, if not already provided, a copy of the certification of origin. This 1-year post-importation window is a specific, exact number the exam tests, and it is worth contrasting with the 1592 prior-disclosure and Part 174 protest windows covered in the entry process and protests and post-entry guides, all of which run on different clocks.

Is GSP still in effect?

No. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) grants duty-free treatment to eligible goods from designated beneficiary developing countries under 19 USC 2461 through 2467. The statute’s own text is unambiguous about the current cutoff: 19 USC 2465 states that “no duty-free treatment provided under this subchapter shall remain in effect after December 31, 2020.” Congress has repeatedly let GSP lapse and then retroactively renewed it in the past, sometimes years after expiration, with refunds issued on entries made during the lapse once renewal passed. As of this guide’s review date, no such renewal has been enacted since the December 31, 2020 lapse, and the codified statute still reads as expired. Treat GSP on the exam as a program you should recognize by name, its mechanics, and its lapsed status, and confirm the current statutory text before assuming any revival.

Which regional preference programs are currently active?

Two other preference programs candidates frequently confuse with GSP are alive and running on their own separate statutory clocks:

Program	Statute	Beneficiaries	Current authorization
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)	19 USC 3721	Eligible sub-Saharan African countries	Through December 31, 2026 (extended by a February 2026 amendment from the prior September 30, 2025 date)
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act / CBTPA	19 USC 2703	Eligible Caribbean Basin countries	Through the earlier of September 30, 2030 or the entry into force of a qualifying free trade agreement with the beneficiary

Both programs, like GSP, require the President to designate eligible countries and can suspend or withdraw eligibility for a given country without ending the program itself. The exam’s practical test is usually matching the program to its beneficiary region (Africa versus the Caribbean Basin) and knowing that, unlike GSP, both currently carry a live authorization date rather than a lapsed one. Because AGOA’s date was moved by amendment as recently as February 2026, confirm the current text at law.cornell.edu or ecfr.gov before relying on either figure past this guide’s review date.

How this shows up on the exam

Trade agreement and special program questions tend to test one of three things: which program governs a given country pairing, who may certify origin (a USMCA-specific mechanical fact), or whether a program is currently authorized. The GSP-lapsed trap is a recurring one: a question describing a beneficiary developing country’s shipment invites the unwary candidate to reach for GSP by habit, when the correct answer for a currently entered shipment is that no GSP duty-free rate applies unless the program has been renewed. Practice distinguishing “currently in force” from “you have heard of it” in the free practice test, and drill locating Parts 181 and 182 fast in the chapter locator and corpus map.

Sources: 19 CFR Part 182 (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), sections 182.11 and 182.31; 19 USC 2465 (GSP termination date); 19 USC 3721 (AGOA duration); and 19 USC 2703 (CBERA/CBTPA duration), as published on the Legal Information Institute mirror of the U.S. Code and CFR (law.cornell.edu), cross-checked against the eCFR (ecfr.gov/current/title-19). Reviewed 2026-07-29. Preference-program authorizations change by legislative amendment and can be renewed or lapsed with little notice; confirm the current statutory text before relying on any date here.