This archive report was first published on 13 July 2019.
Published on July 13, 2019, five months after the East African Community deferred signing the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, it has emerged that Tanzania's unyielding stance could force a stay of the status quo as the EU is hesitant to push the region to sign a trade deal that threatens its cohesion as a bloc.
Well-placed sources at the European Commission told The EastAfrican that the EAC negotiated and concluded a bilateral trade agreement with the EU as a bloc, and it must remain as such.
Kenya and Rwanda have signed the deal, but Tanzania is unhappy about the trade pact, arguing that the agreement will have serious consequences for its revenues and the growth of its industries.
Kenya has been lobbying its EAC partners to enforce the EPA on an individual basis rather than as a bloc to allow those that have not signed to sort out their issues.
However, the EU is not for this idea, and the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiation Institute (Seatini) argued that the variable geometry formula would impair the EAC's regional integration.
