On July 1, 2024, the European Union-Kenya Free Trade Agreement (Economic Partnership Agreement) entered into force. The EPA agreements remain the most emblematic of Kenya’s enthusiastic embrace of trade liberalization and acceptance of the inevitable tide of trade reciprocity between the global North and South states. Free Trade Agreements have become a tool of choice in the country’s quest for market expansion. The entry of the EPAs into force provides an opportunity to not only evaluate their effectiveness in market preservation for Kenya, but also to clarify the logic of free trade agreements.
As the new EPA agreement kicks off, three trends are already evident as outcomes of the broader context of global trade re-alignments.
Photo Courtesy of The Standard