The study, aimed at establishing whether the protection given to the list of sensitive products since 2005: has increased the EAC regional capacity to produce, reduced the importation of the same products from the rest of the world, increased intra-EAC trade, and improved welfare. Results suggest that although intra-EAC trade increased since 2005, the imports of the same products from outside the region even increased more creating a huge negative trade balance. This suggests that there is deficiency in regional capacity to produce these products within the bloc, therefore effective protection was not adequately achieved by the high tariffs imposed on the sensitive list of products.