President William Ruto during a Presidential Roundtable with the Kenya Private Sector at Emara Ole-Sereni Hotel in Nairobi on August 6, 2025
President William Ruto on Wednesday fought off the push for an investigation by President Donald Trump’s administration into Kenya’s ties with rivals of the United States, links to armed groups and human rights violations, including abductions, citing trade benefits to justify Nairobi’s bond to China.
The Head of State told Washington that Nairobi’s increased bilateral engagement with China is in the country’s national interest, citing the removal of tariffs on Kenya’s exports to the Asian emerging economic power house.
The President made the remarks in response to a plan by the US to review ties with countries that have pledged allegiance to China. Kenya is one of the Global South countries that have been caught in the geopolitical rivalry pitting the US and China in the emerging multipolar world order.
While addressing a Presidential Private Sector Roundtable, Dr Ruto said no country should fault another for pursuing what is in their national interests, including the search for new markets and trading partners and access to resources in the new emerging world order.
The President, however, stated that Kenya still maintains a robust engagement with the US, either through bilateral agreements which are already under negotiations or through the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Friends complaining
“Some of our friends are complaining that we are doing too much trade with China… but it is what I must do for Kenya. It’s in the best interest of Kenya that we get into this (China) market,” said President Ruto, apparently referring to an amendment to a Bill before Congress to review Kenya’s status as a major non-Nato ally. “We have concluded the high-level conversation with China. They have agreed to a reciprocal arrangement. They have agreed to remove all the tariffs on our tea, on our coffee, on our avocado, and all other agricultural exports. That, I think, is a major breakthrough for us,” President Ruto said.
In reference to the push for the US government to open an inquiry into Kenya over various grievances, including trade ties with China, the President said that he has “a bit of a problem with some of our friends” opposed to the bilateral ties.
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing an executive order to create a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the LA 2028 summer Olympic games in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, DC on August 5, 2025.
“When I sat with President Xi, I had a very candid conversation, and I told him that Kenya is importing Sh600 billion worth of products from China, yet we are only exporting maybe Sh300 billion. That trade imbalance is serious, and that is the reason why they have opened up their market for our agricultural products. That is good for Kenya, and that is the right thing to do,” he explained.
The defence by the President comes in the backdrop of a proposal by Senator Jim Risch, who also chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for changes to the US National Defence Authorisation Act for the 2026 financial year, in which he wants Congress to order a review of Kenya’s Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA) status.
Senator Risch wants the US to investigate the trade and investment relationship of Kenya with the Republic of China, with a sharp focus on any participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and bilateral debt and commercial ties.
The US has been against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over fears it would erode its global influence. BRI is also seen by the US as a strategic tool for Chinese geopolitical expansion, especially across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
President William Ruto with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
Senator Risch proposes that Kenya’s trade ties with China be investigated, specifically targeting the roads sector and the Sh880 billion Nairobi owes the world’s second-largest economy. Mr Risch also wants Kenya’s relationship with Russia and Iran investigated.
Public and private Chinese companies have dominated major taxpayer-funded road projects in Kenya since President Mwai Kibaki’s administration contracted Wu Yi, Sinohydro Corporation and Shengli Engineering Corporation to construct the 50-kilometre Thika Superhighway.
China is also Kenya’s largest individual lender. As at the financial year ended June 2025, Kenya owed China $5.4 billion (Sh700.9 billion).
In the 2024/25 fiscal year, Kenya paid Sh129.35 billion to China as debt-servicing. Most of the borrowing is tied to infrastructure projects.
Signs of Mr Risch’s push to revoke Kenya’s MNNA status emerged in May this year when he addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr Risch said it was time to review US ties with countries that have pledged allegiance to China, specifically mentioning Kenya.
“Many African nations maintain troubling ties with China – including key national security partners. Just last month, President William Ruto declared that Kenya – a Major Non-Nato Ally – and China are co-architects of a new world order,” he told the committee.
“That is not just alignment to China; it’s allegiance. I submit for the record the text of that speech. Relying on leaders who embrace Beijing so openly is an error. It’s time to reassess our relationship with Kenya and others who forge tight bonds with China”.
President Ruto made the remarks at Peking University in Beijing on April 23, 2025.
Three months earlier, President Ruto and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone call in which they discussed bilateral relations.
The President, however, did not address concerns raised by Mr Risch in the proposed amendment to the Bill before Congress about the killings of protesters and Kenya Kwanza links to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab.
In the proposed amendments, the US senator says Kenya could have used intelligence and security support from the US government to abduct, torture and rendition civilians.
Kenya also faced criticism after the abduction in Nairobi of seven Turkish nationals by intelligence officers from Ankara in October 2024.
Intelligence support
“An assessment of the use by the government of Kenya of US Security assistance and intelligence support and sharing, including potential impacts on state and non-state sponsored actions against civilians to include abductions, torture, renditions and violence against civilians,” one of the Amendments in the Bill reads.
Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Democratic Action Party (DAP-K) leader said the indictment by the US is a blot on President Ruto’s administration.
Former Deputy President and DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua gestures during an interview with NTV at his Karen home in Nairobi on June 27, 2025.
Mr Gachagua, in a statement, claimed Kenya had, under Dr Ruto become a financial safe haven for individuals and entities on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list and foreign terrorist organisations, including individuals and entities based in some neighbouring countries.
“Mr William Ruto, we warned you on Sudan’s Rapid Support Services – RSF and Al-Shabaab, we asked you to bar international crooks and foreign terrorist organisations and individuals from Kenya.”
Delegates representing political parties affiliated to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces react to greetings at KICC, Nairobi on February 18, 2025, ahead of the planned signing of the Government of Peace and Unity Charter.
“Mr Ruto, Kenyans asked you to stop extrajudicial killings, unnecessary force and violence against civilians using state-sponsored militia, police brutality, forced abductions and disappearances, illegal detentions, and blatant abuse of human rights,” said Mr Gachagua.
Mr Gachagua urged Kenyans living and working in the US to reach out to their lawmakers and share with them information on what is happening in Kenya.
“We will not sit pretty and watch our country slip into anarchy, cynicism, and dictatorship. Kenya stands to lose big in defence and security strategic partnerships in research, security training, military support, regional security roles with the USA, and enhanced bilateral relations,” he said.
Similar remarks were shared by Democratic Action Party-Kenya (DAP-K) leader Eugene Wamalwa, who said that the proposal by the US to review its ties with Kenya was an indictment on President Ruto’s administration.
“President Ruto is increasingly being discussed in international forums, including the US Congress, over issues such as abductions and his engagements with rebel groups like the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan and M23 in the DRC. He has also taken controversial positions on Somalia. This is not just a diplomatic disaster; it is a reflection of failed leadership at home. For the sake of Kenya’s democracy, stability, and international reputation, we must ensure we make him a one-term president in 2027,” said Mr Wamalwa.
He said the President must answer to the people of Kenya and take full responsibility for allegedly shaming the country globally.
But Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said in a post on X that the issues in the proposed Bill will be ‘comprehensively addressed, taking into account Kenya’s sovereignty and interests’.
