“China has promised to eliminate tariffs on imports from every African country except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan,” reports The Doomslayer.
China runs a trade surplus with Africa, as it does with every continent except Australia. China’s trade surplus with Africa reached a record high of over $100 billion last year. African nations export raw materials like oil, gold, and minerals to China. China exports higher-value, finished manufactured goods to Africa, where China is the leading source of manufactured goods.
China imports minerals from Africa to use in its industrial, technology, and green energy sectors, especially copper, cobalt, iron ore, and lithium. Major suppliers include the Democratic Republic of the Congo (cobalt), Angola (petroleum), Zimbabwe (lithium), South Africa (platinum, manganese, chrome), and Guinea (iron ore).
Asharq Al-Awsat reports that “Beijing’s scrapping of tariffs for all but one African country will start May 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday…China already has a zero-tariff policy for imports from 33 African countries, but Beijing said last year it would extend the policy to all 53 of its diplomatic partners on the continent…From May 1, zero levies will apply to all African countries except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan…Many African countries are increasingly looking to China and other trading partners since US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs worldwide last year…The announcement came as Africa’s top regional body hosted its annual summit in Ethiopia this weekend to discuss the future of the continent of some 1.4 billion people.”
Argentina has recently engaged in a policy of “unilateral trade liberalization,” notes The Doomslayer. “Since taking office” in December 2023, Argentina’s current president has “loosened import limits, slashed tariffs, and scrapped customs regulations, giving Argentinian consumers access to a bounty of cheap foreign goods and forcing domestic producers to become more competitive.” Argentina’s inflation rate has fallen from 25% a month to less than 3% a month, and its economy stopped shrinking.
