No evidence for X post's claim that US ordered Kenya to end a trade deal with China
IN SHORT: A viral post claims Kenya has lost its sovereignty after it was "instructed by the US to end a trade deal with China". There is no proof of such an order and the claim has been strongly denied by Kenyan officials.
A post on the X social media platform dated 14 January 2026 claims that Kenya has lost its sovereignty after the United States ordered it to terminate a trade deal with China.
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The post reads, in part: "Kenya has totally lost its sovereignty, as US instructs them to end Trade deal with China."
It further described Kenya as being in "puppetry servitude" and contrasted the East African country with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which it said represented "revolutionary sovereignty".
"Can you imagine the AES being instructed to do that," the X post added.
The AES is a regional alliance formed in 2023 by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The bloc promotes reduced Western influence and closer cooperation among its members, all of which are led by military governments.
To support its claim, the post links to a news graphic that states: "Kenya halts China trade deal following pressure from the US."
The X post has been viewed more than 133,000 times and attracted over 1,600 reposts and 3,900 likes. But does the publicly available evidence support the claim?
Background and context
The claim surfaced amid renewed scrutiny of Kenya's trade relations with both the US and China. Kenya is a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a US trade programme that allows eligible African countries to export certain goods duty-free.
The Agoa agreement is a key priority for Kenya's export sector, and while it expired in September 2025, it was extended for a further three years on 13 January.
At the same time, Kenya has been negotiating an "early harvest" trade framework with China. This is intended to allow preferential trade as talks continue toward a broader economic partnership.
Source of graphic more cautious
The graphic linked in the X post appears to come from Business Insider Africa, a pan-African digital publication. We traced it to an article published on 11 January.
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While it was headlined "Kenya halts China trade deal following pressure from the US", the article itself was more cautious. It referred to delays and "hesitation" by Nairobi and noted that the proposed agreement still required approval from the president and cabinet.
The article did not have primary sources, but cited the Standard, a Kenyan newspaper, which in turn reported the deal had "stalled", basing this on anonymous sources who reportedly described progress as slow.
Other international outlets then cited the Business Insider Africa article to say that "reports" showed the deal had stalled, even as they at the same time noted that it remained under consideration.
The X post relies on the mixed and speculative reports to definitely claim that Kenya had terminated the agreement with China, and goes on to add that this was after being instructed to do so by the US.
But is there any evidence for this claim? We checked.
China trade deal not terminated
There is no evidence that Kenya cancelled or ended its trade deal with China. Kenya's principal secretary for its foreign affairs ministry, Korir Sing'oei, publicly rejected the reports, describing the Business Insider Africa report as "completely unfounded".
Sing'oei said that on 19 December 2025, Kenyan and Chinese negotiating teams concluded talks on the early harvest arrangement, exchanged tariff schedules and agreed on rules of origin for preferential trade.
He added that Kenya saw no conflict between advancing trade arrangements with China and pushing Agoa renewal or a separate trade agreement with the US.
There is no evidence to support the X post's claim that the US ordered Kenya to end its trade deal with China. Available public information, including social media updates by Sing'oei as recently as 28 January shows work on a full deal is underway.
