The 10% tariff blow by U.S. President Donald Trump might cripple the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade agreement, economist Churchill Ogutu has opined.
Kenya charges the U.S. a 10 percent tariff on U.S.-sourced goods and Trump announced sweeping ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on all imports to the Western powerhouse on April 2.
Speaking to Citizen TV on Wednesday, Ogutu stated that the duty-free agreement stands a slim chance of being renewed since trade concessions have been impaired.
To avoid the rumored AGOA termination, he advised Africa to leverage its free trade area and seek out new trading partners.
“There is some engagement with other regions with the European and Asian countries, It’s abit of diversifying in the event that AGOA, by the look of things, we not see it being renewed,” he said.
“There’s an opportunity of consensus from an African perspective because the kind of engagement that was primarily between Africa and the US was through AGOA is expiring by September this year.”
While Trump has since paused the tariffs on all countries except China, Ogutu noted that Kenya should not be punished for being part of AGOA, especially being the second largest importer to the US.
Meanwhile, Trade Cabinet Secretary (CS) Lee Kinyanjui has intimated that Kenya is brokering a trade agreement with the U.S.
“Kenya will be appealing this 10 percent trade tariff, and we have drafted the rationale for that,” the minister told Citizen TV’s Monday Report program.
The reciprocal impositions will affect Kenya’s total goods trade with the world’s largest economy; Nairobi exported goods worth $737.3 million (Ksh.95.3 billion) to Washington in 2024, per the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.
Much of this was apparel, coffee, and tea.
Kinyanjui said Nairobi sent a delegation to Washington last week over the matter, adding that Kenya also eyes a free-trade agreement with the U.S. as AGOA nears expiry.
