According to trade minister Moses Kuria, Kenya anticipates concluding negotiations for a trade and investment agreement with the United States by the end of this year and signing the document by April 2024.
Kenya is one of the leading trading partners of the United States with Africa, and the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a favorable trade policy that will expire in 2025, has benefited Kenya greatly.
The agreement, which Kuria said in an interview after visiting British trade officials, would not address tariffs but rather supplement AGOA and soften the hit for Kenya if the program is not extended.
Kuria declared that both the Kenyan and American sides were moving forward at full speed. We will have concluded the actual negotiations by the end of this year to clear the way for a signing, most likely by April of the next year.
To reduce tariffs between the two countries, the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump started talks for a comprehensive free trade agreement with Kenya in 2020. Yet the Joe Biden administration, which has avoided traditional trade agreements, did not pick up those discussions.
Instead, it chose to engage in discussions regarding a non-tariff agreement aimed at raising labor and production standards in Kenyan economic sectors like agriculture and digital services in ways that enable US trade and investment.