The Economic Partnership Agreement will give Kenya duty-free and quota-free access to the EU, its biggest export market, while European goods will receive progressive tariff reductions. The agreement is the first broad trade deal between the EU and an African nation since 2016 and follows a spending spree by China on lavish infrastructure projects across the continent. Kenya is also negotiating a trade deal with the United States. The new trade deal with Europe is the culmination of trade talks between the EU and the regional East African Community (EAC) that started roughly a decade ago. Kenya signed and ratified an initial trade agreement with the EU in 2016 alongside the EAC but it fell through after some countries failed to greenlight the pact, with Kenya eventually pursuing its own deal.

Source: Daily Nation December 18, 2023 11:16 UTC