Kenya confident of strong US ties under Trump presidency

The Government has expressed confidence of stable trade relations with the United States of America following the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States of America.

This comes even as part of the president elect’s campaign pledges was to focus on growing America’s economy with talk of scaling back on international trade deals.

Trade Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo said Kenya had enjoyed fruitful bilateral relations with the US and did not expect drastic changes under a Trump administration.

“We have had changes in leadership but we have maintained our relationship with the American people, so I expect that our bilateral ties shall remain strong and in fact even grow stronger,”Dr Kiptoo stressed.

While other global markets have reacted sharply to the election of Trump as the 45^th president of the US, Kenya’s domestic market has remained fairly stable.

The Central Bank of Kenya has assured commercial banks of support should the shilling come under pressure against the dollar.

Financial markets have since calmed down after a knee-jerk selloff in stocks following Trump’s surprise victory on Wednesday, with futures on the S&P 500 Index paring losses along with European equities, while the yen and gold scaled back gains.

Dr Kiptoo said the recent 10 year extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) will ensure both African and American businesses continue to benefit from existing trade ties.

“That extension was lauded by many people because it’s much longer than the previous AGOA periods because it brings more certainty in terms of doing business not only for Kenyan exporters but American traders and exporters. I don’t to believe the law will not be changed and AGO will remain for the next 10 years,” he said.

In 2015, Kenya exported goods worth an estimated Sh40 billion to the US under the AGOA window mainly benefiting businesses at the Export Processing Zone.

Kenya mainly exports textile, coffee and titanium ores and concentrates to the US.