AU summit 32: Beyond the hype of Africa’s free trade deal

This report by the Institute for Security Studies examines the progress and challenges of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) ahead of the 32nd AU summit. While political momentum is high, the document highlights a gap between the ceremonial launches and the technical reality, as critical tariff schedules and rules of origin remain unfinalized.

• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) faces a significant gap between its political launch and technical implementation. The African Union launched the agreement before establishing essential tariff schedules, rules of origin, or regulations for specific services sectors, meaning no goods will move duty-free in the immediate future.
• The framework for the AfCFTA requires member states to liberalise 90% of trade, with a 10% exemption allowance. To prevent countries from using these exemptions to bypass the spirit of the agreement, AU trade ministers decided in December that excluded products cannot exceed 3% of tariff lines or 10% of the value of imports from other African nations.
• Negotiations regarding rules of origin are critical and contentious. If rules are too strict, they may become protectionist tools; if too lenient, there is a risk that non-African countries, such as China, could export goods into Africa by performing minimal assembly on the continent to label them as African goods.
• UNCTAD estimates that full 100% liberalisation of tariffs on goods could increase the value of intra-African exports by 33%. This could lead to a GDP increase of 1% to 3% for most African countries and a 1.2% rise in total African employment.
• While South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia have joined, other major economies have not yet ratified the agreement. Nigeria has not ratified it yet, though the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria is now supportive, and Egypt, the AU chair for the year, has also not yet ratified.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2019). AU summit 32: Beyond the hype of Africa’s free trade deal. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-beyond-the-hype-of-africas-free-trade-deal

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. AU summit 32: Beyond the hype of Africa’s free trade deal. 2019. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-beyond-the-hype-of-africas-free-trade-deal.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=AU summit 32: Beyond the hype of Africa’s free trade deal |date=8 February 2019 |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-beyond-the-hype-of-africas-free-trade-deal |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2019summit, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{AU summit 32: Beyond the hype of Africa’s free trade deal}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-beyond-the-hype-of-africas-free-trade-deal}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }