Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, had a trade deficit with Beijing of 549.82 billion shillings ($4.27 billion) in 2024, having exported just 26.32 billion shillings in goods to China and imported 576.14 billion shillings worth.
The preliminary deal, reached last month after a round of negotiations kept quiet at the time, is technically known as an Early Harvest Arrangement, allowing for Kenyan goods’ access to China while the full deal is hammered out.
“The introduction of zero-duty access will unlock vast economic potential for Kenyan exporters,” the ministry said, adding that businesses will be able to export more agricultural produce, without stating the specific eligible products.
Past attempts to redress the trade imbalance between the two nations, including allowing exports of fresh Kenyan avocados into China in 2022, have not dented the gap.
JUGGLING PARTNERSHIPS WITH CHINA AND U.S.
Kenya is also a close ally of Washington and is negotiating a separate bilateral trade accord with the Trump administration, giving rise to recent reports in domestic media outlets that closer engagement with China could anger the U.S.
Officials have denied those reports.
“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, posted on X this week.
Ruto has defended the rapprochement with China against criticism from some U.S. officials, saying Kenya has to export more goods to the huge Asian economy to close the trade gap.
“We have initiated discussion with China to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement,” Kenya’s trade ministry said in a statement, disclosing the talks for the first time. “These engagements have resulted in a preliminary agreement.”
China’s government did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The deal stems from Beijing’s move towards eliminating all trade tariffs applied to the 53 African states with which it has diplomatic relations, analysts said, announced last June in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariff blitz.
“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.