PREVIEW
Officials in Washington are mulling changes to the tariff policy ahead of a US-Africa business summit in September
China continues to position itself as Africa’s most important economic partner after offering tariff-free trade to all 54 African countries, other than Eswatini, which recognises Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The move, along with some jibes at United States policy, was announced at a ministerial meeting on China-Africa Cooperation in central China on 11 June that was attended by dozens of African ministers. It came alongside a ten-article declaration urging the international community to embrace ‘true multilateralism’ and stressing that development aid ‘should be effectively increased, not unilaterally slashed’.
Last September, Beijing announced that it would offer tariff- and quota-free trade to the 33 poorest African countries (AC Vol 65 No 19, Beijing leads battle for influence).
The recent declaration also referred to the damage caused to African economies by ‘unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying’, an obvious dig at the Trump administration, whose ‘liberation day’ tariffs mean that African states now face a 10% levy on their exports to the US (AC Dispatches, 31/3/25, The Trump tariffs on 2 April will call time on the AGOA free trade bill).
The reference to development aid, currently being cut by the US and much of Europe, is disingenuous since China’s 2024 aid budget of US$3.5 billion was dwarfed by the $63.3bn formerly provided by Washington.
What China is offering is a replica of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US law which has offered tariff- and quota-free trade to around 40 African states since 2000.
AGOA does not formally expire until September but it has been undermined by the Trump tariffs. Negotiations about an alternative set of measures are due to be discussed in a series of high-level US-Africa economic consultations due to be held between June and September.
Many in Washington expect that a revised version of AGOA will emerge after a US-Africa business leaders summit due to be held in New York after the UN General Assembly meeting in September (AC Dispatches, 7/4/25,Legal battles loom over Trump’s Africa tariffs).
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