China to remove tariffs on nearly all goods from Africa

Twenty more African countries, mostly from the continent’s middle-income nations, are set to gain access to the world’s largest consumer market duty-free as Beijing plans to remove tariffs for all products from every African nation except eSwatini.

The measure was announced as African ministers joined Beijing at a meeting in central China affiliated with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Amid the tariff war, representatives from China and African nations accused the United States of disrupting the global economic and trade order and harming the collective interests of the international community.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a letter presented to the meeting in Changsha in Hunan province on Wednesday, said China was willing to extend zero-tariff measures to 53 African countries with diplomatic ties to China for all items.

Only eSwatini – the sole African nation that supports Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province – is excluded from the measures.

The plan expands on the policy announced at the 2024 FOCAC summit in Beijing which granted 33 least-developed African countries (LDCs) – such as Uganda and Ethiopia – zero-tariff treatment.

Xi said China would “provide more convenience for the least developed countries in Africa to export to China”, according to a readout released by China’s foreign ministry.

To do this, Beijing plans to roll out measures related to market access, inspection and quarantine, and customs clearance to boost trade.

At the same time, China would train people in Africa to help carry out the measures and expand the promotion of quality products from these nations, Xi said in the letter presented to the ministerial meeting of coordinators on the implementation of FOCAC outcomes.

Hannah Ryder, chief executive of the Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined, has been tracking China-Africa trade and said China’s move was “not just symbolic”.

“It’s a structural shift in Africa–China trade relations,” she said.

Africa’s trade with China faced a bottleneck: tariff preferences were limited to LDCs which, along with competitive exports, created distortions in Africa’s largest trade partnership, according to Ryder.

Tariff elimination alone was not enough. “Exporters still face barriers like language, logistics and e-commerce costs,” she said.

On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met African ministers to review the implementation of FOCAC outcomes. A declaration released after the meeting said the tariff offer would be made available once African leaders negotiated and signed the agreement of China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development with China to “welcome quality products from Africa to the Chinese market”.

Wang said in his keynote speech at the FOCAC meeting that “China will continue to expand its opening up to Africa … and provide more Chinese markets and opportunities for African development”.

China is now the continent’s largest trading partner, with total trade reaching nearly US$300 billion in 2024. Africa’s trade with the US was valued at just US$71.6 billion in the same period.

Ryder said the deal recognised the significance of Africa’s free-trade area. “To really diversify trade beyond raw materials, it’s necessary for the middle-income countries who already have a production base to get easier access into the market,” Ryder said.

However, Lauren Johnston, a China-Africa relations specialist and associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre, said the promise to welcome quality products failed to define “quality”, and hence was “a promise without ready quantification at this moment”.

Johnston also said African nations might be facing bigger obstacles to market access than inspection and quarantine issues, such as issues around electricity, infrastructure, human resources, or reaching phytosanitary or other technical standards.

She said skills and technical training could comprise a bigger element of the deal for LDCs, with scope to offer immediately relevant scholarships.

China’s expanded zero-tariff treatment for African nations is seen as a move to capitalise on the impact of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs as Beijing positions itself as a more reliable trade ally for Africa, according to observers.

The ministers, through a joint statement, hit out at the US for policies they said had disrupted the existing international economic and trade order and undermined the common good of the international community.

“We call on all countries, the United States in particular, to return to the right track of resolving trade disputes through consultation based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministers criticised the US, stating that instead of unilaterally slashing aid, “development assistance to African countries should be effectively increased”.

“Unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying has created severe difficulties for the economic and social development in African countries,” they said.

African exports to the US face tariffs following Trump’s decision to introduce higher reciprocal tariffs of as high as 50 per cent. Trump paused the implementation for 90 days, although a 10 per cent baseline tariff remained in effect, which greatly affected the duty-free benefits enjoyed by African countries under the US preferential trade programme known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Furthermore, AGOA faces an uncertain future as it is set to expire in September, and it remains unclear if the Trump administration will renew it.

Nairobi-based international relations researcher Adhere Cavince said, “there is no doubt that China has been forced into cultivating more markets, both for import and export, particularly in the Global South, as a result of trade and economic conflict with the US”.