Big win for South Africa

China plans to remove tariffs on all imports from almost all African countries, expanding an arrangement that previously covered only those deemed the least developed as Beijing seeks to strengthen economic ties with more partners amid a trade war with the US.

President Xi Jinping announced that all 53 African nations that have diplomatic ties with China will be accorded “zero-tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines,” according to a letter issued to foreign ministers from the continent.

Beijing granted 33 least-developed African nations duty-free access to its markets at a summit in September. Chinese exports to the continent increased by 12.4% in the first five months of the year, reaching 963 billion yuan ($134 billion) — an all-time high, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Securing preferential access to Chinese markets would be a big win for African nations, more than 30 of which risk losing their rights to export goods duty-free to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

That accord appears to have been superseded by President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal levies on all of America’s trading partners. 

China and the US have also been wrangling over tariffs, with Trump intent on narrowing his nation’s trade deficit.

Officials from the world’s two biggest economies agreed to a new framework to defuse tensions at a meeting in London earlier this week.