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Kenya signs post Brexit deal with UK

  

With barely a month to the December 31, 2020 end of its transition from the European customs union, Kenya has signed a post Brexit deal with Britain to allows it access the British market on duty and quota-free basis. The new Kenya-UK trade deal is expected to be used as a model or manuscript for future negotiations between the UK and other continental sovereigns. The deal gives Kenya’s EAC partners a five-year period to join the pact while keeping similar terms. Kenya also safeguards its own markets from a disproportional impact of the tap such as the dumping of UK goods domestically.

Moreover, the deal includes the gradual reopening of the country to UK goods over the course of 25 years but with a cap of an 82.6 per cent on the size of market open to the trade. A seven-year moratorium to opening up trade further insulates Kenya’s nascent industries including agriculture and manufacturing.

The deal is expected to see Kenya grow its volume in value of trade with the UK. Kenya is also negotiating with the US to reach a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The nature of the deal couldn’t however been further from the pact reached with the UK as concerns continue to be drawn from various quarters.

For instance, Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary to the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has warned Kenya against walking into a trap as the US seeks terms favoring its own industries over local ones. Kituyi has questioned the premise of the deal arguing Kenya already fails to take full advantage of its existing free market to the US under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

Years since the implementation of the pact, Kenya still has apparel as its biggest export to the US in spite of having the eligibility of exporting nearly 1,000 products under Agoa.

 
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