Key Messages
Kenya has been a net importer from the United States (US) but the trade deficit narrowed significantly between 2015 and 2019, from -$872 million to -$83 million. More than half of Kenyan exports to the US are comprised of clothing, macadamia, coffee, titanium ores and concentrates, and black tea. Three-quarters of US-bound exports benefit from duty-free access to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Kenya may boost efforts to increase exports of clothing, coffee, tea, pineapples and roses – products for which there is increasing demand in the US and/or increasing efficiency in Kenya. Kenyan food preparations, soap and frozen goat meat are yet to gain importance in the US market. Kenyan exporters to the US face challenges related to compliance with US phytosanitary control, packaging requirements, procedural obstacles, environmental, social and safety standards, conformity assessments, and rules of origin. To boost exports to the US, Kenya may support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in garments, horticulture and tea value chains; and the development of standards appropriate to the US market. Kenya should also maximise the US–Kenya Strategic Cooperation Framework and US trade and investment agreements with the region.
This policy brief is extracted from a SET paper ‘Promoting Kenya’s exports: a country- and product-specific analysis ’. It is a part of an emerging analysis series that focuses on Kenya’s trade with the EAC, the rest of Africa, European Union, United Kingdom, United States, China and India.