China's Imports From Africa Surge After Beijing Expands Zero-Tariff Access

Africa's exports to China have risen since Beijing expanded a zero-tariff policy across the continent in May, the South China Morning Post reported, citing customs data that show new trade in emerging sectors alongside traditional categories such as critical minerals.

The shift matters because it reverses China's usual trade pattern. Rather than only exporting its manufacturing surplus, Beijing is opening its own market to producers across the Global South and building supply relationships in metals and agricultural goods that fall outside Western-led channels.

The same coordination appears in other forums. At a BRICS meeting, Indonesia's manpower minister, Yassierli, urged members to strengthen future-skills forecasting, part of a broader effort by the bloc to align labor and industrial policy across member states.