China recently implemented a “zero-tariff” policy for 53 countries in Africa. As Chinese and African citizens increasingly reap the mutual benefits of trade, America is losing out by heading in the opposite direction.
China imports mostly raw materials and resources from Africa — crude oil, copper, cobalt, agricultural products and unprocessed minerals. Removing import taxes mean that Chinese consumers will benefit from lower prices and Chinese companies will pay less for inputs into their own manufacturing.
Tax-free imports to China won’t alone help the continent move up the value chain, but they provide African nations with much-needed hard currency. The young continent also benefits from imports of higher value manufactured goods that improve lives.
There are also geopolitical dividends. China’s leaders are presenting their country as a stable trading partner, capitalizing on the confusion and anger unleashed by the Trump administration’s global tariff regime.
It’s more than a little rich for China to be positioning itself as the defender of free markets. China’s state-capitalist economic model, its undervalued currency and an economic policy that favors investment over domestic consumption have given the country a record trade surplus with the rest of the world.
Yet the country’s open-access policy generates goodwill and gives Beijing valuable propaganda points in a rivalry for influence across the world’s fastest-growing continent. That’s an opportunity squandered by President Donald Trump’s trade wars and perceived downgrading of the importance of Africa.
The U.S. has its own successful trade preference pact with Africa called AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which granted duty-free access to a range of products in eligible countries. The agreement helped build up the textile industry in Lesotho, for example, and the automotive industry in South Africa.
In 2000, South Africa’s automotive exports were $195 million. Because of American cooperation, the figure reached $2.38 billion in 2024.
AGOA was allowed to temporarily lapse on Sept. 30. In February, Trump signed a retroactive extension that will expire at the end of 2026. Without the certainty of a longer-term extension, AGOA is now on life support. Meanwhile, his across-the-board global 10 percent tariffs eroded the duty-free benefits of AGOA.
Early data from 2026 shows steep declines. The U.S. imported $10.61 billion from Africa between January and the end of March. That’s a drop of 19.7 percent from a year ago. U.S. imports from South Africa fell from $7 billion to $2.67 billion. Small landlocked Lesotho saw its exports to the U.S. drop from $56.6 million to $33.6 million, more than 40 percent, as orders dried up and factories closed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has not visited sub-Saharan Africa since being sworn in last year. His Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, has continued the tradition of making Africa the first annual visit for Beijing’s top diplomat.
China’s offer may be self-serving, but America’s retreat is self-defeating.
