The average American household paid an extra $1,500 in 2025 because of Trump's tariffs. For Kenyans in America sending money home, that $1,500 is money that could have gone to parents in Nairobi, school fees in Kisumu, construction in Kisii.
Remittances from the Kenyan diaspora in America are significant. When household costs rise in America, remittances often fall. The family in Kenya does not see the tariff — they see less money arriving from their person abroad.
This is one of the things that does not appear in the American tariff debate: the downstream effect on diaspora communities, on the families abroad who depend on the earnings of people who are now paying more for eggs, more for electronics, more for everything that crosses a border before it reaches them.
Before you go: build a financial buffer specifically for years when American policy shifts costs in ways you cannot predict. The person sending money home is always the last person the policy accounts for.
Gabriel Mahia writes from the intersection of U.S. federal infrastructure and East African operational reality. This essay is part of a series written after twelve months in Kenya, April 2025 – April 2026.