PREVIEW
Kenyan delegation expected to visit Washington soon to discuss trade deal
Kenya has signalled its intentions to kickstart talks with United States President Donald Trump’s administration on a trade deal by signing a US$2.1 million contract with Washington DC-based lobbyists Continental Strategy.
Talks on a Kenya-US trade deal were launched during Trump’s first term and evolved into plans for a Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership under his successor President Joe Biden. That culminated in a defence cooperation agreement last year which saw Washington designate Kenya as a major non-NATO ally.
Though Kenya’s exports to the US now face a 10% tariff, the lowest level imposed by Trump on 8 August, his ‘liberation day’ tariffs will still hurt its economy, particularly the apparel sector which was the main contributor to Nairobi’s $737m of sales to the US last year (AC Vol 66 No 16, Trump lessens the tariff pain, but they will still bite). Several Trump administration officials have hinted that the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offered quota- and duty-free trade to more than 30 countries, including Kenya, will be kept on in some form after its expiry in September, but there are no guarantees.
Meanwhile, the close links between President William Ruto and China have also been criticised by some in Washington (AC Vol 66 No 9, Ruto pivots from Washington to Beijing). Earlier this month, Republican Senator Jim Risch tabled amendments to the National Defence Authorization Act that would require a three-month review of Kenya’s major non-NATO ally status (AC Vol 65 No 12, Ruto revels in the western embrace).
Continental Strategy is not one of the establishment K-street lobbying outfits but several of its senior staff have close links to President Trump. The firm’s partners named in the Kenya contract filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act include Alex Garcia, the Deputy Political Director for the Trump campaign. Its president Carlos Trujillo was an electoral delegate for Trump in 2016 and 2024 and a senior member of his campaign’s finance team.
Though the filing refers only to generic ‘government relations’, trade is likely to be the main priority, with Kenyan officials planning an imminent trip to Washington.
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