Defining moment for multilateralism

Zero-tariff commitment to African countries replaces protectionist barriers with institutional openness, rejecting decoupling and zero-sum rivalry

The global trading system is undergoing a profound transformation. Economic growth continues to slow, geopolitical tensions persist and protectionist rhetoric increasingly shapes policy debates. According to World Trade Organization trade monitoring reports, trade-restrictive measures covered approximately $4.604 trillion in trade by value by May 2025, accounting for 19.4 percent of global imports, a year-on-year surge of 6.9 percentage points.

Against this backdrop, on May 1, China formally implemented a 100 percent zero-tariff policy for 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, without quota restrictions or political conditions. This milestone, achieved less than 18 months after China extended full tariff elimination to the 33 least-developed African nations with which it has diplomatic relations in December 2024, makes China the first major economy to unilaterally grant comprehensive zero-tariff treatment to all African diplomatic partners. It represents not merely a landmark in China-Africa relations, but also a substantive commitment to multilateralism, mutual benefit and shared development at a time when the forces of deglobalization are gaining ground.

Too often, multilateralism is invoked as a diplomatic slogan, but China’s comprehensive zero-tariff initiative for 53 African diplomatic partners gives the concept substantive meaning: true multilateralism is not selective bargaining, but predictable, rules-based openness extended indiscriminately and without political conditions.

This institutional character is reflected in three qualities — universality, transparency and durability.

By unilaterally granting duty-free access across all tariff lines to every African partner, China avoids the selectivity and uncertainty of piecemeal negotiations. Products ranging from Ethiopian coffee, Kenyan avocados and Ghanaian cocoa to South African citrus fruits and wine — previously subject to duties of 8 to 30 percent — now enter one of the world’s largest consumer markets unimpeded. Such across-the-board market access is not mere trade preference; it is an institutional affirmation of fair-trade principles in practice.

More significantly, the policy marks China’s strategic shift from ad hoc trade concessions toward institutional openness. Zero tariffs function not only as cost relief but also as a catalyst for deeper value-chain cooperation — complemented by customs facilitation, standards alignment and digital connectivity. By institutionalizing market dividends and sharing them with partners, China is putting genuine multilateralism into action: transcending narrow self-interest to help build a more equitable and inclusive international economic order.

For years, the rhetoric of decoupling has threatened global supply chain stability. Some powers pursue exclusion through trade barriers and industrial reshoring, eroding efficiency and mutual trust. Against this trend, China’s zero-tariff policy offers a structural rebuttal: where some erect walls, China builds bridges.

China-Africa trade hit a record $348 billion in 2025, up 17.7 percent year-on-year, with Chinese imports from Africa exceeding $123 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, bilateral trade surged 23.7 percent, and Chinese imports rose 14.6 percent. By lowering entry costs for African goods while improving exporter margins and competitiveness, the zero-tariff policy delivers tangible economic relief for African nations facing debt pressures and external shocks — strengthening trade resilience and stabilizing economic fundamentals.

More importantly, the policy is forging deeper industrial interdependence. The certainty created by tariff elimination is drawing Chinese and international investment into African processing and manufacturing, driving supply chain integration. As Ricky Mukonza, an associate professor at South Africa’s Tshwane University of Technology, observed, by offering full market access without demanding reciprocal concessions, China is setting a new benchmark for supporting Global South industrialization. Such symbiotic industrial ties represent the strongest structural defense against the logic of decoupling.

For too long, developing countries have been rule-takers rather than rule-makers in global economic governance. Trade frameworks shaped by developed economies often embed terms that serve their own interests, narrowing the policy space for emerging nations. China’s zero-tariff policy goes beyond bilateral benefits, offering a compelling model for collective self-empowerment among Global South countries seeking a stronger voice in shaping international rules.

The contrast with other preferential schemes is telling. The European Union’s Everything But Arms initiative grants duty-free, quota-free access only to least-developed countries, while other African nations must navigate reciprocal Economic Partnership Agreements, which involve complex negotiations and binding commitments. The United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act expired in September 2025 and received only a short-term renewal through 2026, amid pressure for reciprocal tariff concessions and persistent uncertainty over eligibility tied to governance and human rights criteria.

By contrast, China’s zero-tariff arrangement carries no political strings attached — no governance benchmarks and no domestic regulatory demands. It embodies sovereign equality and non-interference, demonstrating that economic partnership can be built on mutual respect alone. For the Global South countries, this represents an important confidence-building step in resisting unilateralism and coercive diplomacy.

Yet structural gaps between policy ambition and on-the-ground reality cannot be ignored. Supply-side constraints remain the foremost challenge: Many African countries suffer weak industrial bases, smallholder-dominated agriculture and underdeveloped cold-chain logistics infrastructure. Post-harvest losses for African agricultural products reach roughly 40 percent, with cold-chain deficiencies especially acute outside southern Africa. Even with zero tariffs, low product standardization limits the potential for scaled exports. Non-tariff barriers add a second layer of difficulty: stringent sanitary requirements and complex rules of origin impose heavy certification burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises. Logistics costs may also eat into tariff savings, while policy benefits risk being captured by intermediaries rather than reaching producers at the source.

China’s response has been systematic and extends well beyond tariff elimination. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, investments in ports, railways and power infrastructure continue to remove logistical bottlenecks, while Chinese enterprises’ participation in African processing and manufacturing is building local value-added capacity. In January and February, China’s new direct investment in Africa surged 44 percent year-on-year. On non-tariff barriers, China is actively promoting technical standards alignment and certification cooperation, establishing green-lane facilitation for African exports and providing training on inspection procedures and rules of origin. These measures aim to ensure that African partners not only see the opportunities created by zero tariffs, but can actually seize and benefit from them.

From granting zero-tariff treatment to select African products in 2005 to today’s comprehensive tariff elimination covering all 53 diplomatic partners, China’s commitment to open markets in Africa has deepened steadily over two decades. This sustained record of delivery is the strongest testament to Chinese policy credibility. In turbulent times, consistency itself becomes a strategic asset. The policy sends an unmistakable signal: no matter how volatile the external environment, China’s resolve to expand openness, uphold multilateral trade and advance the building of a community with a shared future for humanity remains unwavering.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the initiative during the 39th African Union Summit, urging all developed countries and major economies to follow suit. African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called China’s proactive openness “particularly crucial” for a continent bearing the brunt of global uncertainty.

The historical significance of this policy lies not only in the momentum it injects into China-Africa relations, but also in the alternative it presents to a world economy that is at a crossroads: replacing protectionist walls with institutional openness, resisting forced decoupling through industrial interdependence and moving beyond zero-sum competition through genuine multilateralism. In an era of profound transformation, the steadfastness of openness remains China’s greatest source of confidence — and its most enduring contribution to the world.

The author is a professor at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.