In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer regarding trade negotiations between the governments of the United States and Kenya, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) said a U.S.-Kenya agreement has the potential to provide tangible market access for U.S. food and agricultural exports to Kenya’s growing economy. The agreement could also cut into the European Union’s (EU) dominance over dairy exports to Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa.
IDFA encouraged the Trump administration to continue to pursue a trade agreement with the African continent’s seventh-largest economy, but voiced its concern for Kenya’s protectionist measures over its dairy sector, as well as a host of nontariff barriers to trade that would limit U.S. dairy’s competitiveness. In addition, IDFA said it believes the government of Kenya has allowed the EU to dominate Kenya’s dairy market. In 2019, the EU enjoyed 81% of the market compared to the United States’ share of <1%. The United States and Kenya must “work in tandem to achieve a level playing field free of barriers to trade,” said IDFA.
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