43 countries have zero tariffs! Focus on China-Africa trade

According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on September 5, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation adopted the "Beijing Declaration on Building an All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in the New Era" and the "Forum on China-Africa Cooperation-Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027)".

Unilateral zero tariff treatment for 43 countries

In the Trade Prosperity Partnership Action, China expressed its willingness to actively unilaterally expand market opening and decided to grant zero tariff treatment to 100% of tariff items of all less developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, including 33 African countries, to promote the Chinese market to become a great opportunity for Africa.

Africa is the continent with the most underdeveloped countries in the world. In order to enhance its export competitiveness and promote its economic growth, China began to implement tariff-free treatment for some goods exported to China from less developed African countries as early as 2005. Since then, this treatment has been continuously expanded and evolved.

It is worth noting that the original text is "all underdeveloped countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, including 33 African countries", so the total number should be 43 countries.

The standards for underdeveloped countries are determined by the United Nations and updated every year. As of December 2023, there are 45 underdeveloped countries in the world. They are:

Africa (33 countries): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central Africa, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Republic of Liberia, Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Djibouti, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.  

Asia (8 countries): Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, East Timor, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Yemen.  

Oceania (3 countries): Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu.  

North America (1 country): Haiti.

Among them, Haiti and Tuvalu have not established diplomatic relations with China, so excluding these two countries, there are 43 countries.

China-Africa trade volume hits a new high in the first seven months

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was established in 2000. Currently, there are 55 members, including China, 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, and the African Union Commission.

The theme of this summit is "Join hands to promote modernization and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future". After the opening ceremony, four conferences will be held on the themes of governance, industrialization and agricultural modernization, peace and security, and high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

According to the "China-Africa Joint Construction of the "Belt and Road" Development Report" released in August, China has been Africa's trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and the proportion of China-Africa trade in Africa's total foreign trade has steadily increased.

According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, from 2000 to 2023, the scale of China-Africa trade increased from less than 100 billion yuan to 1.98 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 17.2%, 4.6 percentage points higher than the average annual growth rate of China's overall trade in goods during the same period.

In 2023, the "China-Africa Trade Index" exceeded 1,000 points, reaching 1,010.83 (100 points in 2000), up 20.28 points from 2022 (990.55), showing a good development trend.

Data show that China's electromechanical products such as ships, automobiles, and wind turbines have become an important force driving the growth of exports to Africa.

In the first seven months of this year, China's imports and exports to Africa reached 1.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.5%, a record high for the same period in history. Agricultural product imports have become a new highlight of bilateral trade.

Kenyan avocados, Tanzanian sesame seeds, Senegalese peanuts, and South African fresh pears have entered the Chinese market one after another. In the first seven months, China imported 25.35 billion yuan of agricultural products from Africa, an increase of 7.2%, which is higher than the overall growth rate of China's agricultural product imports.