ATHI RIVER, KENYA — This sprawling industrial park south of Nairobi was supposed to be a centerpiece of a Clinton-era U.S.-Africa trade program designed to make "Made in Kenya" almost as familiar as clothing labels from China and Taiwan.
Well-known American brands, including wrinkle-free Dockers, Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and Izod polo shirts, roll off sewing assembly lines here before being shipped to Target, Sears and other U.S. retailers.
Yet as the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, nears its 10-year anniversary and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Kenya on Tuesday for an international forum to tout its success, many in Africa and the U.S. say the trade agreement isn't living up to its promise.
After a brief export boom five years ago, sales, profits and workforces are tumbling for garment manufacturers in Kenya, who produce the bulk of the nation's AGOA exports. More than a dozen factories have closed.
Other exporters aren't faring much better. Of about 6,400 products and goods that qualify for duty-free export to the U.S. under the AGOA program, Kenya is shipping only 20, including apparel, flowers and coffee.
The pact "is not realizing its potential," said Joseph Kosure, acting chief of Kenya's Export Processing Zones Authority, where most of the East African nation's exports are produced.
Signed into law by President Clinton in 2000, AGOA waives U.S. duties for 39 qualifying sub-Saharan African countries, allowing them to sell African goods to U.S. customers for 15% to 30% less than rival exporters.
The U.S. program was designed to help free-market African economies diversify their manufacturing bases and create jobs. But critics say it has instead largely subsidized the export of oil to the U.S. by waiving duties for firms in a handful of petroleum-producing nations who hardly needed increased incentives.
More than 92% of AGOA's $66 billion in exports last year consisted of petroleum products, mostly from Nigeria, Angola and Republic of Congo, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Minerals and raw materials, such as gold, diamonds and iron, were the next-largest exports.
Exports of agricultural and apparel goods -- two industries that AGOA was aimed at bolstering -- fell last year 10% and 8%, respectively.
