Africa is emerging as a key market for Chinese exports, a trend that may have been inadvertently accelerated by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
Chinese exports to Africa grew by 25% year on year, reaching $122 billion in 2025, outpacing growth in other major regions, even as orders from the United States have declined.
The pace of trade is so rapid that China’s exports to Africa in the first half of 2025 have already surpassed the total for all of 2020. On current trends, exports are on track to reach $200 billion for the first time.
Washington’s growing protectionism has made it easier for African countries to purchase goods from Beijing.
This development comes amid the Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs on a range of products from more than 30 African nations, despite these countries having duty-free access to U.S. markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
In contrast, China has been lowering import taxes on all African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, President Xi Jinping stated in June in response to Trump.
That same month, agricultural goods from Ethiopia, Congo, Gambia, and Malawi were allowed into China, raising the number of African countries with access to the Chinese market to 19.
According to Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics, a practice known as transshipment may be used to reroute some goods destined for the U.S. through Africa.
Despite this growth, the trade relationship remains uneven, with China maintaining a much larger trade surplus with Africa than in 2024, exporting far more than it imports.
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“Chinese exporters have done a genuinely impressive job of diversifying into emerging markets in recent years, including in Africa,” Beddor said. “The weaker yuan this year has probably also made Chinese exports more competitive in African countries.”
African nations continue to export commodities such as oil, minerals, and agricultural products, but China dominates the manufactured goods sector, solidifying its role as Africa’s top trading partner for the fifteenth consecutive year.
Beijing’s approach combines addressing Africa’s infrastructural needs with gradually opening its own market to African products, attempting to balance trade and mitigate criticism of the imbalance.
Nonetheless, Africa accounts for only a small portion of China’s overall exports, representing 6% of the total, roughly half of U.S. demand, according to Bloomberg.
The continent’s rapid growth, resource wealth, and infrastructural needs are increasingly central to China’s long-term trade strategy.
President Xi’s 2013 Belt and Road Initiative, the primary driver of this expansion, has been further accelerated by the trade tensions with the U.S.
In 2025, there has been heightened demand for equipment and materials required for projects that Chinese companies have contracted across Africa, ranging from industrial parks to railroads.
In 2023, China-Africa trade reached $282 billion, underscoring Beijing’s fifteen-year dominance as the continent’s largest commercial partner.
The latest surge in 2025 reinforces this position, suggesting that Trump’s tariffs may have unintentionally accelerated Africa’s rise as a key market for Chinese exports.
Alongside trade, the Chinese currency, the yuan, is gaining traction in Africa, with the continent serving as a testing ground for Beijing’s global de-dollarization strategy.
Increasingly, cross-border transactions are being conducted in yuan, and several African central banks are boosting their yuan reserves.
This trend aligns with Africa’s gradual move away from dependence on Western financial systems and complements China and Russia’s broader BRICS initiative to challenge the U.S. dollar’s dominance in global commerce.
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Image Credit: The Conversation
