The Container Terminal in Durban, South Africa. China is seeking to boost trade with African nations by offering no tariffs on imports from nearly every country in the continent.Rogan Ward/Reuters
China has announced plans to eliminate all tariffs on imports from nearly every African country, bolstering its role as an attractive ally to countries suffering from the chaotic tariff policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.
African countries were hit with some of the most severe penalties – including tariffs as high as 50 per cent – when Mr. Trump announced his trade plan in April. The increases were later rolled back to 10 per cent temporarily, but the threat of higher tariffs is still looming as Washington reviews its policies.
Beijing, capitalizing on the Trump-related turmoil, is positioning itself as a friendly alternative to the United States. It announced Wednesday that it will introduce a zero-tariff policy for all imports from the 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. The only exception is the tiny kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), which has relations with Taiwan.
In a joint declaration after a high-level meeting in the Chinese city of Changsha this week, Chinese and African leaders announced plans to sign the zero-tariff deal as part of a new economic agreement. Without mentioning Mr. Trump by name, they complained of “protectionism and economic bullying” and pledged to resist the pressure for unilateral trade concessions.
“China highly commends African countries’ commitment to the basic principles of sovereignty, equality and justice, and to upholding a common position in the face of external pressure,” the joint statement said. “We resolutely oppose any party reaching a deal of compromise at the expense of the interests of other countries.”
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The zero-tariff pledge is a significant expansion of China’s earlier trade policy, announced last year, which eliminated tariffs on imports from 33 countries worldwide that are classified as least-developed. The earlier policy also ended tariffs on 98 per cent of products imported by China from 21 African countries.
The new policy will replace this with the complete elimination of all tariffs on African countries, except Eswatini. Africa’s least-developed countries, which already have full access to China without tariffs, will receive additional Chinese assistance to boost their exports, according to Beijing.
The announcement was well timed. African countries have been increasingly hurt by Mr. Trump’s decisions in recent months, and their efforts to strike deals with Washington have been largely futile, prompting many of them to seek ways to diversify their trade away from the U.S. China has already been Africa’s top trading partner for the past 15 years, making it a logical choice for closer links now.
Mr. Trump has alienated many Africans not only with his tariff policies, but also with other controversial decisions that disproportionately hurt the continent: travel bans, migration restrictions, foreign-aid cuts and a recently announced tax on overseas remittances, a key source of income in Africa. He has also engaged in verbal battles with a key African country, South Africa, falsely accusing it of “genocide” against its white minority.
Mr. Trump’s tariffs have effectively killed an important U.S. trade program, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which has created tens of thousands of jobs in 32 African countries over the past 25 years by granting duty-free access to the U.S. market for specified goods. The trade deal expires in September and is seen as unlikely to be extended.
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While the U.S. has been damaging its relations with African countries on multiple fronts, China has been assiduously cultivating those same countries with trade, investment and financing deals.
“The China-Africa relationship has been at its best in history,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press conference last week.
China’s zero-tariff plan drew praise from African officials who attended the meeting in Changsha this week. Kenya’s top diplomat, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, said the new Chinese tariff plan is creating “strong momentum” for Africa.
“China continues to stand out as a steadfast partner and a powerful voice for the Global South, including the African continent,” Mr. Mudavadi said in a social-media post Wednesday.
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations, Ronald Lamola, said the trade discussions were “very fruitful” at the Changsha meetings. “This is a big opening up for us, particularly on market diversification,” he said in comments posted online by his department.
With a report from James Griffiths in Hong Kong