Ethiopia and Kenya are the leading countries in making use of the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) treaty in the East African region, it has been reported.

According to data contained in the US Trade and Investment with sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Trends and New Developments report, Ethiopia at 81.9 per cent and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at 68.2 per cent come second and third, while Kenya took the lead at 98 per cent of eastern Africa countries that have taken advantage of the treaty to increase exports to the US mainly of products like textile and apparels, metals, agricultural products and artefacts.

Increase in apparel exports by Madagascar, Ethiopia and Kenya resulted in US imports of apparel from the region under Agoa increasing by 9.9 per cent annually to $1.2 billion from 2016 to 2018.

“The 10-year extension of the Agoa programme and Agoa’s third-country fabric provision allowed countries to expand apparel production and were the primary causes of the increase in apparel imports,” stated the report.

Kenya’s high rate of Agoa utilisation comes when the country has announced intention to negotiate a US-Kenya free trade agreement that would see Kenya open its borders for duty-free imports from the US, while Nairobi would also get to export a range of goods tax-free to the US.

The two countries share around $1 billion in trade annually.

Source: AGOA