News coming out of Washington and Nairobi indicates that Kenya and the United States are contemplating a bilateral, free trade deal. Details are scanty, but what is not in dispute is the resolve of the parties to put some kind of deal on the table.
The benefits for both parties are tempting. A US-Kenya bilateral trade agreement would open an entry point into East Africa for American products. For Nairobi it is an imperative because of Kenya's changing economic profile. As the only lower middle-income economy in East Africa, Kenya is progressively slipping out of the band that would allow it access to international markets under existing preferential trade regimes with the West.
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