Kenya May Ink EU Trade Deal Alone as Brexit Spooks Neighbors
- Tanzania, Uganda want to delay Economic Partnership Agreement
- Brexit shouldn’t be an excuse, UNCTAD secretary-general says
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Kenya may abandon 10 years of negotiating a trade deal with the European Union as part of the regional East African Community bloc and go it alone, to avoid having duties of as much as 30 percent slapped on its exports from October.
A so-called Economic Partnership Agreement between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and the EU is on hold after Tanzania’s government said two weeks ago it’s reluctant to sign any deal because of “recent developments affecting the bloc’s union.” The U.K. voted in a referendum on June 23 to withdraw from the EU, ending a 40-year partnership. Uganda said last week it also wants to delay signing the deal.