Kenya has reached a preliminary trade deal with China that would give 98% of its exports duty-free access to the Chinese market, the Nairobi government said on Thursday, with a full agreement expected later, Reuters reported.
The East African nation has been strengthening ties with China, following President William Ruto’s state visit to Beijing last year, during which multiple financing and cooperation agreements were signed.
“We have initiated discussion with China to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement,” Kenya’s trade ministry said in a statement, revealing the talks for the first time.
“These engagements have resulted in a preliminary agreement.” China’s government did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Analysts said the deal follows Beijing’s move last June to remove trade tariffs on goods from all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariff policies.
“In order for this announcement to be WTO-compliant, middle-income countries like Kenya have to undertake bilateral trade agreements with China,” said Hannah Ryder, founder of Development Reimagined, an Africa-focused consultancy.
She added that the deals will eventually become reciprocal, giving African nations time to strengthen their economies to compete with China’s industrial power.
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Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, had a trade deficit with China of 549.82 billion shillings ($4.27 billion) in 2024, exporting just 26.32 billion shillings in goods while importing 576.14 billion shillings.
The preliminary arrangement, finalized last month but kept quiet until now, is technically known as an Early Harvest Arrangement, allowing Kenyan goods to enter China while the full deal is negotiated.
“The introduction of zero-duty access will unlock vast economic potential for Kenyan exporters,” the trade ministry said, noting that businesses will be able to export more agricultural produce, though it did not specify which products.
Past measures, such as allowing fresh Kenyan avocados into China in 2022, have not significantly reduced the trade gap.
Kenya is also a close ally of the United States and is negotiating a separate bilateral trade deal with Washington.
This has sparked domestic media reports suggesting that closer engagement with China could upset the U.S., but officials have dismissed such concerns.
“We see no tension between our concluding a market access arrangement with China on one hand, and our robust push for AGOA re-authorization as well as a separate bilateral trade agreement with the United States, on the other,” Korir Sing’oei, principal secretary at Kenya’s Foreign Ministry, said on X this week.
Ruto has defended Kenya’s closer ties with China, saying the country must expand exports to the Asian giant to reduce the trade deficit.
China is Nairobi’s largest bilateral creditor, and both governments have agreed to convert the base currency of some loans from U.S. dollars to Chinese yuan to reduce interest costs.
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Image Credit: Reuters
