President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (left) and President William Ruto at State House ahead of the signing of a new trade agreement in Nairobi on December 18, 2023. PHOTO | AFP
Kenya’s recently completed trade deals have run into stormy waters after Nairobi applied higher import duties on whiskies and wines from the United Kingdom and the European Union (EA) respectively, two jurisdictions with which it signed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).
While Kenya, in line with the East Africa Community (EAC) Customs Union, is applying a higher tariff of 35 per cent on imported wines and whiskies to encourage local production, the two EPAs put the import duty at 25 per cent.
