China Removes Tariffs on 53 African Countries as It Courts the Continent

China has removed tariffs on imports from 53 African countries, and exporters across the continent are beginning to reorient toward the Chinese market, the South China Morning Post reported. The commentary pointed to scenes such as Kenyan avocados being packed for shipment to China as evidence of a deepening commercial relationship that Beijing presents as a partnership for African growth.

The move fits a wider pattern of competition for influence across the Global South. India is pursuing the same goal by a different route. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a visit to Seychelles, said India's vision is to make the Indian Ocean "an ocean of opportunity," and held talks aimed at deepening defense and economic ties, The Hindu reported.

For African and Indian Ocean states, the competing offers expand their options. Duty-free access to the world's second-largest economy is a concrete benefit, and it arrives as the terms of trade with Western partners grow more conditional. The contest is less about ideology than about which large power offers the better terms.

From a sound-money perspective, the significance is structural. Trade arrangements built around Beijing and other non-Western centers gradually route more commerce outside the dollar-centered system, building the institutional habits of a more multipolar order.