// EQUALITY: TRADE AND INVESTMENT
As US trade policy takes a sharp protectionist turn, Africa faces new challenges and opportunities, potentially accelerating intra-African integration and deeper partnerships with other global powers African trade policies in Mr Trump’s world
G 20 leaders and their G7 ante- cedents have long concurred that Africa, as the continent with the highest concentration of least developed countries, needs concerted development assistance. On the trade front this has extended to generous preferential market access arrange- ments such as the US African Growth and Opportunities Act. However, by the end of Septem- ber 2025 American preferential tariff treatment for African countries ended. Moreover, under US president Donald Trump, the US is charging ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on African countries. Some of the poorest countries face the highest tar- iffs set by the US administration. Although this reversal is serious, the African Continental Free Trade Area can help African countries to deepen and broaden their trade among themselves. In addition, partners from outside Africa such as the European Union, all subject to US tariffs, could see opportunities for
Peter Draper, executive director, Institute for International Trade in the School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide, and Andreas Freytag, professor of economics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
56 // G20 SOUTH AFRICA: THE JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT 2025
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