A Comparative Study of US– Kenya AGOA Trade Relations between President George .W. Bush and President Barack.H.Obama.

In a fast globalizing world, trade free policies seem to be a common trait in bilateral agreements. Theses bilateral trade agreements are informed by the WTO regulations on free trade and are subject to renewal and renegotiation once their term limit has expired. The WTO has over the years been successful in abolishing trade barriers that cause trade among countries to be expensive. International trade functions on the basis of comparative advantage whereby a country specializes in maximizing their resources to produce quality goods at an affordable price. Therefore, trading with another country that has the comparative advantage in the production of other goods and such is the practice of international trade.

The AGOA trade policy is a multilateral agreement however; it is considered a bilateral agreement when discussing the Kenya – U.S trade. The implementation of AGOA has seen the reign of two U.S presidents, President Bush and President Obama who had a personal relation with Kenya. The study sought to compare the implementation of AGOA between both administrations to ascertain which administration was more beneficial to Kenya. An African – American president in the White House, what changes or benefits were experienced by Kenya under AGOA?

The study’s focus is also towards determining the mutuality of trade between U.S and Kenya under AGOA. The exchange of goods between countries is done in order to fulfill a country’s need for a certain good and for profitability in the country’s economy. The studying uses statistical data to determine whether a trade deficit or trade surplus is the outcome of the trade exchange under AGOA. Substantial research has been done on AGOA in Kenya; nonetheless, there is no available literature on impact of regime change in U.S on AGOA implementation in Kenya. This research seeks to fill this gap by gathering primary data from Kenyan policy makers on impact of regime change in U.S on the implementation of AGOA.