JOHANNESBURG—African countries are finding it harder to export to the U.S. since President Trump returned to the White House with a long list of tariffs. But China sees their struggle as an opportunity.
Since May 1, Beijing has removed tariffs on all goods from 53 of 54 African nations in an effort to win business and influence across the continent. Everything from wine to sesame seeds and wool has been entering China tariff-free from everywhere except tiny Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Analysts say the move could push Africa’s population of more than a billion people and vast mineral resources further into China’s orbit.
Already Africa’s largest trading partner, China is using the initiative to reinforce its self-promoted image as a champion of developing countries. Many African leaders and citizens have been receptive to Beijing’s messaging and see China as a role model for its efforts to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
“The optics of this decision are politically astute,” said Ronak Gopaldas, director at Signal Risk, an Africa-focused political-risk consulting firm. “It reinforces Beijing’s image as a stable and dependable partner for Africa, particularly when contrasted with the more erratic and transactional posture that has characterized Washington in recent years.”
The move could help China secure essential supply chains for critical minerals such as cobalt, copper and coltan. It also opens the door for more opportunities for Chinese companies to join with African governments on infrastructure, logistics and manufacturing projects that need Beijing’s financing.
Kenya Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said at a Nairobi business forum in March that the zero-tariff agreement gives Kenya an opportunity to reduce its trade deficit with China, which stands at some $4 billion. He pointed to coffee, tea, macadamia nuts and avocados as agricultural products that could benefit under the new policy.
Gopaldas cautioned that in the short term, the policy, which builds on a 2024 Chinese decision granting tariff-free access to 33 least-developed African nations, is unlikely to shift the basic structure of the current trade relationship between Africa and China, which is largely characterized by the export of African raw materials to China and the export of Chinese finished products to Africa.
“It doesn’t address the many nontariff barriers that hold back Africa-China trade,” including strict phytosanitary requirements for agricultural exports to China, as well as weak logistics capacity and transport systems in many African nations, said Cobus van Staden, head of research at the China-Global South Project, a nonprofit.
Nigerian businesses have expressed concerns that high production costs, inadequate infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks remain major challenges, despite the increased competitiveness of their products in China.
As a least-developed country, Lesotho has enjoyed tariff-free access to Chinese markets since the end of 2024, but the tiny southern African nation will need to invest in production capacity, process goods locally, improve logistics, support exporters and build competitive industries to take full advantage of the agreement, Mokhethi Shelile, Lesotho’s former trade minister, said.
“If Lesotho can do that, the Chinese market could become a major growth engine,” Shelile said. “If not, the benefits may remain limited and concentrated in raw commodity exports.”
Beijing’s initiative contrasts sharply with the Trump administration’s approach to what the president has referred to as “shithole countries.” The U.S. hit South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, and the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo, with blanket U.S. tariffs of 30% and 15% respectively last year. Trump then instituted blanket 10% tariffs on all nations, but the legality of his actions remains under court review.
Trump, who publicly disparaged Lesotho as a place “nobody has ever heard of,” threatened the country with 50% tariffs last year, among the highest rates proposed for any single nation or territory, wreaking havoc on the country’s textile industry.
Trump has accused Nigeria of failing to stop a Christian “genocide” by Islamist insurgents, and South Africa’s government of committing a “genocide” against the country’s white minority.
Trump closed the U.S. Agency for International Development, for decades a major player in Africa, weeks after starting his second term in the White House. At the same time, the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a Clinton-era law that provides duty-free U.S. market access for some products from sub-Saharan countries, remains shaky. The administration has left dozens of ambassadorial posts in Africa empty.
China’s zero-tariff initiative might allow Beijing to regain some lost ground in Africa. For decades, China flooded the continent with loans, largely to finance Chinese-built ports, airports, railroads and other infrastructure projects. Chinese loan commitments to Africa totaled some $181 billion between 2000 and 2024, according to Boston University researchers.
But China faced frequent complaints that its work was sometimes shoddy and its loan terms onerous. Facing an economic slowdown, Beijing has reduced its financing for Africa. The new tariff-free-access policy provides an alternative way for Beijing to extend its economic reach.
It could also open the way for its African trading partners to strengthen their own economies, at least if they can figure out how to add value to their commodities and agricultural goods, and produce exports that generate some more income.
Write to Alexandra Wexler at alexandra.wexler@wsj.com