Kenya in China trade talks after exclusion from duty-free pact

Kenya began talks with China for a trade deal after the East African nation was excluded from a list of least developed nations countries granted duty- and quota-free access by Beijing.

“We have initiated discussions with China to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement that aligns with the privileges enjoyed by our East African Community neighbors and other African nations,” Trade Secretary Lee Kinyanjui said in emailed statement.

These talks have unlocked a preliminary agreement allowing 98.2% zero-duty market access for Kenyan goods, he said.

The US is pressuring Kenya against signing a substantive trade deal with China, the Standard newspaper reported over the weekend, citing people it didn’t identify.

“We see no tension between our concluding a market access arrangement with China on one hand and our robust push for AGOA re-authorisation as well as a separate Bilateral Trade Agreement with the United States on the other,” Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said in a January 13 post on X.

Kenya is seeking to extend its participation in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act pact that gave much of the continent duty- and quota free access to the US until it expired last year.

The US Senate is set to discuss a three-year extension for the AGOA pact as President Donald Trump’s protectionism pushes African nations into diversifying their main markets.

© 2026 Bloomberg

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