{"id":33435,"date":"2026-08-08T23:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33435"},"modified":"2026-08-08T23:27:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:27:35","slug":"why-the-u-s-must-engage-with-the-afcfta-to-counter-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33435","title":{"rendered":"Why the U.S. must engage with the AfCFTA to counter China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>The China shock has arrived in Africa, and America\u2019s economic relationship with the world\u2019s fastest-growing continent is at stake.<\/p>\n<p>America\u2019s own China shock is well documented. Beijing\u2019s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 lowered economic barriers. This unleashed a wave of cheap manufactured exports that hollowed out American factory towns and led multiple administrations to impose escalating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/IF12990\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tariffs<\/a> on Chinese goods.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The aftershock is now spreading. The same dumping dynamic \u2014 Chinese goods exported at below production costs \u2014 that shook America\u2019s industrial Midwest, is hitting home in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and above all, Africa. Chinese import penetration there is rising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-08-26\/china-is-pouring-exports-into-africa-faster-than-anywhere-else\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">faster<\/a> than anywhere else on earth. Across the continent\u2019s major markets \u2014 Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/exportfocusafrica.com\/2026\/01\/12\/africas-top-importers-of-chinese-goods-in-early-2026-what-the-data-reveals-about-trade-power-ports-and-industrial-dependence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chinese goods<\/a> are capturing market share in textiles, steel, autos, machinery, and electronics, and the effect is evident. Manufacturing\u2019s share of GDP across much of Sub-Saharan Africa has <a href=\"https:\/\/futures.issafrica.org\/thematic\/07-manufacturing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stagnated at under 13 percent<\/a> as Chinese import shares climb.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to what happened in the United States, where Chinese goods caused labor market shocks in specific geographies, subsidized Chinese exports are killing African manufacturing in the crib. Local industries are being denied the opportunity to scale up and provide the middle-class job opportunities the population needs, and the timing could hardly be worse. By 2040, Africa\u2019s working-age population is projected to <a href=\"https:\/\/futures.issafrica.org\/thematic\/03-demographic-dividend\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exceed that of India and China combined<\/a>, and finding opportunities for those workers will be Africa\u2019s primary security challenge for years to come.<\/p>\n<p>So why hasn\u2019t Africa protected itself? Partly because there\u2019s less to defend \u2014 Africa doesn\u2019t have a major industrial constituency demanding protection. But the bigger constraint is debt vulnerability. Beijing is Africa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/finance\/5506522-china-africa-lending-retrenchment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">largest creditor<\/a>, and that debt dependency limits both the fiscal space for subsidies for homegrown industry and the political room for tariffs. You cannot easily impose tariffs on the same country that is restructuring your loans or financing your ports and railways. Moreover, because African economies are relatively small on their own, no single head of state will want to confront China for fear of facing retaliation on their own.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/au.int\/en\/african-continental-free-trade-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The African Continental Free Trade Area<\/a> offers a way around that asymmetry. Acting as a bloc rather than 50 separate economies, African governments could harmonize external tariffs, coordinate infant-industry protections across borders, and create a regional market large enough to make local manufacturing genuinely viable. Scale and unity are what can give Africa more space to push back against Beijing on both debt dependency and dumping.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese goods flooding Africa is also an American problem: If Chinese goods continue to flood African markets, American exporters and local industry alike will be crowded out, too. A key starting point is greater U.S. engagement with the free trade area. <\/p>\n<p>It is imperative that Washington gets it right, since whoever shapes the bloc\u2019s rules will hold significant power over who gets to sell into that market. China has already moved to fill that role: it has positioned itself as a leading technical partner to Africa, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/R47197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">advising<\/a> on the bloc\u2019s rules for intellectual property rights, investment, competition policy and digital trade. The United States needs to get its own advisers into those technical discussions. The State Department should use the newly announced <a href=\"https:\/\/africa.businessinsider.com\/local\/markets\/trump-takes-his-africa-strategy-a-step-further-with-first-dedicated-dollar500-million\/5tert9d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S.-Africa Strategic Investment Program<\/a> to fund this as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>None of this will work, though, without decoupling debt structuring from continued dependence on <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/feature\/how-to-tackle-venezuelas-and-the-worlds-odious-debt-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opaque<\/a> China-linked infrastructure financing. African finance ministers need alternative lenders and refinancing mechanisms that don\u2019t come bundled with commitments to Chinese contractors and equipment. One problem is that the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation \u2014 America\u2019s largest development finance entity \u2014 has grown so narrowly <a href=\"https:\/\/quincyinst.org\/research\/investing-in-the-national-interest-the-dfc-and-american-statecraft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">focused<\/a> on critical minerals and national security that it is missing opportunities to advance America\u2019s long-term economic security in Africa.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/submitting-opinion-content\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"121\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?w=600\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4329764\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=600,121 600w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=300,61 300w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=50,10 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation needs a mandate to innovate: to design new instruments that pull passive, return-seeking American capital into African infrastructure at real scale. U.S. mutual funds and exchange-traded funds alone held nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/icfs.com\/specialists-desk\/fund-industry-overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$45 trillion<\/a> in assets \u2014 even a sliver of that pool would close Africa\u2019s infrastructure financing gap. This administration, stocked with veterans of Wall Street and the capital markets, is well placed to build that kind of bridge \u2014 if it chooses to point that expertise at Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The first China shock reshaped America\u2019s politics, economics, and even society. Its aftershocks will determine Africa\u2019s economic future.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><em>Daniel Swift is a senior research analyst for economics, finance, and trade for the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FDD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Foundation for Defense of Democracies<\/em><\/a><em>, where Cameron Timlin is an intern. Swift is a retired U.S. diplomat and was mostly recently the Acting Coordinator for Prosper Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The China shock has arrived in Africa, and America\u2019s economic relationship with the world\u2019s fastest-growing continent is at stake. America\u2019s own China shock is well documented. Beijing\u2019s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 lowered economic barriers. This unleashed a wave of cheap manufactured exports that hollowed out American factory towns and led multiple&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/AP24249109643224.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}