Imports
Rwanda Paid a Price the Rest of Africa Wouldn't. That's Why It's the One Country Actually Building a Textile Industry.
Rwanda raised tariffs on secondhand clothing from $0.20 to $4 per kilogram between 2016 and 2018, honouring a regional pledge every other East African Community member, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, abandoned once the United States threatened their AGOA trade benefits. The US suspended Rwanda's own AGOA apparel eligibility in 2018 and later imposed a 30% tariff on Rwandan garment exports. Rwanda held the line anyway. Mitumba's share of its garment imports fell from roughly 30% to under 7%, and its textile and garment export revenue grew 83% in two years, redirected toward the DRC, Belgium, Germany and Hong Kong instead of the US. Smuggling through Uganda means the trade was never fully eliminated, an estimated $664,000 still entered in 2023, but Rwanda remains the only country in the region that refused to let a foreign trade threat dictate its industrial policy, and its government is now targeting 100% domestically made clothing by 2029.
