Zero-tariff Treatment: A Golden Hallmark of China-Africa Cooperation in the New Era
القائم باعمال سفارة الصين بالسودان شو جيان
Written by Mr Xu Jian, Charge d’Affaires of Chinese Embassy in Sudan.
Effective May 1, 2026, China extends zero-tariff treatment to 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with it across the board. As China begins implementing the 15th Five-Year Plan this year, this is a strategic decision to voluntarily expand unilateral opening up and a major step in following the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith for China’s Africa policy and adhering to the right approach to friendship and interests, marking an epoch-making milestone in the history of China-Africa relations and international relations. China has thus become the world’s first major economy to provide unilateral, full-coverage zero-tariff treatment to all African countries having diplomatic relations with it, and to all least developed countries (LDCs) that have diplomatic ties with China.
Just like an arithmetic equation, zero-tariff treatment uses the “subtraction” of tariffs to drive the “addition” of trade. Back in 2005, China granted, for the first time, zero-tariff treatment on certain imports from the LDCs in Africa, including Sudan. Starting from December 1, 2024, China gives zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of tariff lines for 33 LDCs in Africa. And now, this treatment has been officially extended to cover all 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with China. With the removal of tariff barriers, the upgrading of “green lanes” for African exports to China, and the implementation of other facilitation measures, the volume of China-Africa trade has seen leapfrog growth over the years, rising from less than USD 40 billion in 2005 to USD 348 billion in 2025, up 17.7 percent year-on-year to a record high. China’s zero-tariff treatment to 53 African countries having diplomatic ties with China underscores the consistency of its Africa policy and Africa’s important position in China’s overall diplomacy.
Zero-tariff treatment creates conditions for China and Africa to leverage their respective strengths. Endowed with abundant natural resources, Africa produces a variety of specialty agricultural products that are well-received in the Chinese market. As China has upgraded the “green lanes” for African agricultural exports to China, zero-tariff treatment is enabling more high-quality African products to enter the Chinese market to directly meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers. China, for its part, has a complete industrial system that allows for cost-effective processing of raw materials and manufacturing of industrial goods. Zero-tariff treatment will help diversify African exports, expand their scale, optimize their structure, benefiting numerous small and medium-sized farmers and micro and small businesses and increasing people’s income. In this way, it will produce an even greater multiplier effect on poverty reduction in Africa.
Zero-tariff treatment will promote the development of Africa’s industrial and supply chains. For a long time, Africa has faced difficulties in selling its goods due to inadequate export channels, high market access threshold and weak infrastructure and supporting facilities. Many of its premium specialty products have found it difficult to integrate into the global economy in a sustained and stable manner. Rather than an isolated trade measure, zero-tariff treatment is closely coordinated with other practical cooperation initiatives established under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and works in synergy with infrastructure investment and industrial park construction under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It does more than just open China’s supersized market to Africa’s specialty products. More importantly, it will serve as a strategic leverage to drive coordinated progress in Africa’s local processing, cold chain logistics and related infrastructure, so as to translate vast market access opportunities into Africa’s internal drivers for its industrialization.
Zero-tariff treatment showcases China’s open and inclusive vision. Amid the rising global unilateralism and protectionism and the spillovers of the Middle East situation affecting Africa, China’s zero-tariff treatment provides a stable and predictable institutional guarantee for China-Africa cooperation on a long-term basis, sharing opportunities with Africa to pursue common development and promoting mutual opening up around the world through its own opening up. During the 39th African Union Summit held in February 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to all developed countries and nations with large economic potential to take exactly the same measure. As a member of the Global South, China has taken concrete actions to deliver growth momentum to the Global South and advance universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
As President Xi Jinping noted, “As a new step demonstrating China’s unwavering commitment to expanding high-standard opening up, the implementation of zero-tariff treatment will provide new opportunities for Africa’s development and for our joint pursuit of modernization.” Zero-tariff treatment will become a shining hallmark of China-Africa cooperation in the new era and deliver greater benefits to people on both sides. Taking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Africa as a new starting point, China stands ready to deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation in various areas with Sudan and other African countries, so as to bring China-Africa cooperation to higher levels, greater depth and wider areas, jointly build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and write a new chapter of shared development of the Global South.
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