Nairobi, Aug. 16 -- Kenyan factories shipped 148 million pieces of apparel to the United States in 2025, a 27.6 percent jump in volume. Yet the money that came back fell, export earnings, dropped 4.1 percent to Sh58.1 billion, according to the Economic Survey 2026. Kenya's exporters are working harder and earning less for it, and the reason has little to do with tariffs.

That gap between volume and value is the real Agoa story for 2026, and it is a warning most boardrooms have not yet priced in.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) expired on September 30, 2025. President Trump's retroactive extension, signed on February 3, 2026, restored duty-free treatment through December 31,2026, but only after a lapse that briefly pushed K...