Analysis

This paper explores the persistence of protectionist trade policies across Africa and their implications for economic development, regional integration, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). While protectionism can support emerging industries and strategic sectors, excessive reliance on it undermines long-term growth and regional cooperation. Kofi Oteng Kufuor’s work on protectionism in Africa, as a sub-part of his recent monograph The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: the Development of a Rules-Based Trading Order, dissects the problem of protectionism within Africa. He demonstrates the threat to the planned single market from a range of forces, that can operate on two-levels, the sub-regional level and the regional level. African countries have stunted intra-African trade with protectionism. Drawing from historical developments, legal frameworks, and policy case studies—including Nigeria’s 2019–2020 border closure—the study evaluates the balance between national trade protection and continental liberalization efforts. It also highlights institutional and regulatory constraints that hinder AfCFTA’s implementation. The paper concludes by advocating for a pragmatic approach to trade policy—combining time-bound protectionism with structural reforms to foster sustainable development and pan-African economic unity.

The African Youth Essay Competition, organized by AfCFTA Dialogues, aims to promote awareness and foster the exchange of ideas about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and African development. In commemoration of African Integration Day, the inaugural edition in 2024 engages young Africans in discussions on the significance of the AfCFTA, with a focus on advocating for the free movement of Africans within the continent to facilitate economic integration and drive sustainable development.

The author provided a historical basis for any scholar or student of international economic law, development, and international relations to understand the underlying factors behind the current unequal trade structure and arrangements within the World Trade Organization. Therefore, African leaders must collectively seek to dismantle all international legal instruments with colonial legacies, enhancing economic bargaining and prospects for the continent.

The rise of Trump is beneficial for Africa. This forms the basis of my argument. Many African nations have grounded their foreign relations in misleading principles. Liberals often appeal to pity, proclaiming, “Oh, we are here to protect human rights.” Conversely, China states, “We are here for deals.” This reflects my perspective. If Africa shifts from this false idealism and adopts a pragmatic approach, it can forge beneficial agreements with the USA, China, and Europe. Such agreements should be founded on genuine, tangible values for value. This should be the guiding principle for international trade in Africa.

The national policy outlined in the Economic Transformation Act No. 45 of 2024 (the Act or the ET Act ) identifies promoting foreign investment as a key driver in Sri Lanka’s economic transformation. It further underscores the need to attract export-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI) to support the ‘growth of non-debt creating inflows to the economy’. The policy sets forth two specific investment goals. The first is to increase the country’s net FDI inflow to at least five per cent of Gross Domestic Production by the year 2030. The second is to ensure that at least forty per cent of the country’s net FDI is in exports of goods or services by the same year. Achieving these goals requires Sri Lanka to create a conducive business environment. The preamble to the ET Act also emphasizes the need for a law that fosters an investment-friendly environment within the country. It further affirms Sri Lanka’s commitment to establish ‘a transparent, inclusive, and rules-based system that promotes fair and equitable treatment’ for both domestic and foreign investors. To that effect, the ET Act provides for a comprehensive set of investment guarantees. Yet, they mainly focus on protecting the interests of foreign investors and placing them in an advantaged position relative to domestic investors. The idea behind prioritizing investor protection is to ostensibly promote FDI which has been identified as a key driver of Sri Lanka’s economic growth in the post-economic crisis era. Thus, the ET Act manifests the structural biases inherent in international law on foreign investment while perpetuating the long-standing power disparity between foreign and domestic investors by embedding it within Sri Lanka’s domestic legal system.

By contrast, the reciprocal tariffs are an unprecedented reversal not only of the US’s commitment to free trade, but also of its leadership in establishing the institutions overseeing this commitment like the World Trade Organization and its dispute settlement system. The trade war already triggered by these tariffs will irreversibly harm the poorest countries while fundamentally undermining the ability of global trading of the World Trade Organization to do anything about this. Even more, this policy is unlikely to meet one of its major objectives, reshoring manufacturing back to the US.