The China Global South Project published on 24 January 2025 a commentary titled "The Persistent China-Africa Trade Imbalance--Is It China's Fault?" by C. Geraud Neema Byamungu.
Africa continues to have a persistent trade deficit with China--$62 billion in 2024. The author argues that Africa is structurally ill-equipped to rebalance the trade relationship and must build a strong, competitive manufacturing sector to move beyond its dependence on raw material exports. For its part, Chinese companies can invest more heavily in downstream segments of African raw material value chains.
