Kenya is yet to make public its negotiation objectives for the proposed free trade area (FTA) almost two months after the US published its intention to get unfettered access of its products and firms to key segments of the local economy.
Experts and local business lobbies have urged caution after the US’s FTA negotiation objectives indicate that the world’s largest economy would be seeking duty-free access of its industrial and agricultural products.
Kenya’s trade negotiation with US will strive to generate a pact that protects the local economy and safeguards regional integration, President Uhuru Kenyatta said last week amid calls for caution.
Kenya is yet to make public its negotiation objectives for the proposed free trade area (FTA) almost two months after the US published its intention to get unfettered access of its products and firms to key segments of the local economy.
“I acknowledge that we are dealing with a large population and a bigger economy than ours. We are trying to find a scenario that opens Kenya as a market for some of US products and one that enables Kenyans to take advantage of the huge market as well,” President Kenyatta told the Atlantic Council last week.
“I believe it’s neither in the interest of the US nor Kenya to dominate the trade.”
Experts and local business lobbies have urged caution after the US’s FTA negotiation objectives indicate that the world’s largest economy would be seeking duty-free access of its industrial and agricultural products.
The US also wants Kenya to open its maritime, textile, telecoms, financial services, and pharmaceutical industries.
At the regional level, integration partners have raised concerns that the FTA could undermine existing blocs such as the East African Community and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The AfCFTA was to start on July 1 but has since been pushed to January due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
President Kenyatta has said the Kenyan team would be setting strong terms, adding that the negotiations had been delayed until the AfCFTA was in place to weed out any conflicting aspects of the agreement.
Kenya, the President said, was a “trailblazer” in pursuing the FTA with the US market, adding that other AfCFTA members would soon have to enter such pacts after the lapse of Africa’s Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“We have been keen to kick off the trade negotiations but this had been delayed for the AfCFTA to come into play in the first week of July.
The FTA has to go through all the preliminaries that can be copied by others,” he said.
The proposed free trade agreement is meant to replace the expiring Agoa deal that was set up in 2000 providing a duty-free entry of Kenyan products to the US market.
However, this unilateral agreement has gone through many extensions with Kenya being the largest beneficiary especially for apparel products.
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