President William Ruto said on Wednesday that Nairobi expects to sign a trade deal with the United States before the end of the year while pressing Washington to extend Africa’s duty-free access to U.S. markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ruto confirmed he would meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lobby for the extension of AGOA, which is set to expire this month.
“I will be asking him for the U.S. to consider seriously renewing and extending AGOA for at least a minimum of five years, because it is a platform that connects Africa and the U.S. in a very fundamental way, and it can go a long way in solving some of the trade deficits and challenges that exist at the moment,” Ruto said.
The 25-year-old act has allowed qualifying African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets, particularly benefiting textile and agricultural exporters. However, a bipartisan bid to extend it last year stalled in Congress, and the return of President Donald Trump to the White House in January, with his tariff-focused trade policy, has cast fresh uncertainty over its future.
Despite this, Ruto expressed optimism, saying the U.S. administration had shown increased appreciation for AGOA. He added that bilateral talks with Washington had made “good progress” and that Kenya hoped to conclude a separate trade deal by the end of 2025.
Kenya is pushing for greater access for its apparel, textiles, and agricultural exports such as tea, coffee, and avocados, while also seeking to expand into mining and fishing. A successful agreement would mark the first U.S. bilateral trade pact with a sub-Saharan African country.
“We have a trade deficit in favor of China, but the one for the U.S. is fairly balanced, so we are still looking at avenues on how to balance trade with all our trading partners,” Ruto said, noting China has already scrapped tariffs on Kenyan agricultural goods.
Beyond trade, Ruto highlighted pressing security concerns, urging stronger global support for international missions in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Haiti.
He said a proposal was on the table for the U.S., Qatar, the East African Community, and the Southern African Development Community to hold talks next month on ending fighting in eastern DRC, where a June peace deal between Rwanda and Congo has failed to halt violence.
On Haiti, Ruto reiterated that Kenya’s U.N.-backed deployment to lead an international security mission was severely under-resourced. “We need more numbers. We need more logistics, we need more equipment, and we need more financial support to be able to carry this through,” he told Reuters.
Armed gangs have seized control of most of Port-au-Prince, displacing over 1.3 million people and driving widespread hunger.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
