AGOA in a global context

AGOA has led to impressive gains in Kenya’s trade with the US, particularly in the first few years after its launch. However, this growth needs to be put in context of general increases in Kenya’s exports across the board.

The major impact of AGOA to Kenya’s overall exports has been to increase the general relevance of US exports, making it Kenya’s 5th largest export partner with between 5-6% of total exports.

Kenya’s exports to the US are important, but they are not of critical importance. Therefore, though exports to the US were almost flat since 2005, Kenya’s total exports still grew at a healthy 11% a year between then and 2011.