President William Ruto has asked his African counterparts to view growing protectionist policies in advanced economies such as the United States as an opportunity to integrate markets on the continent and mitigate shocks in global trade.
He told a gathering of global business leaders in Nairobi that strengthening intra-Africa trade offered a “bigger opportunity” for a growing market for goods and services than what is offered elsewhere.
The remarks came in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping protectionist tariff policies which have prompted China to retaliate, raising uncertainties in global trade and raising fears of an economic recession.
“We are all aware of the geopolitical situation in the world, but there still exists greater opportunity for us in this continent. The realisation by policymakers like myself that that’s where the future lies is a very welcome development because it is now becoming more obvious that even as we look to trading with the rest of the world, there is a present and real opportunity in trading within the African continent which is within our power,” Dr Ruto told delegates from more than 70 countries during the World Chambers Federation (WCF) Africa Summit on Wednesday.
He added: “Even as other mechanisms are being rolled out by others to do what they think works best for them, we [Africa] also must think about what works best for us. We can then have a conversation of equals at some point. Therefore, we are keen on working with institutions like the businesses here for us to be able to have greater understanding and work together towards a win-win outcome.”
The Trump administration enforced a new trade policy on April 2, 2025, hitting countries with higher tariffs and warning them not to retaliate.
While countries like Japan appeared to have appeared reserved and willing to negotiate, China, the world’s second-largest economy, has taken the US head-on with counter-tariffs.
Beijing on Wednesday raised tariffs on goods coming from the US to 84 percent starting Thursday from 34 percent in a swift pushback to the US latest tariffs on her goods which took total import duty to 104 percent.
“Countries around the world, including African ones, are actually being hit by what the US is calling reciprocal tariffs. We are obviously concerned by increasing protectionism and erosion of multilateral cooperation,” Philippe Varin, chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, said.
“This phenomenon, if it were to intensify, will have severe long-term negative consequences, particularly for countries which currently do not enjoy a higher level of integration into global value chains.”
Some of the countries which have been hardest hit by the US tariffs include Lesotho (50 percent), Madagascar (47 percent), Mauritius (40 percent), Botswana (37 percent) and South Africa (30 percent).
Kenyan goods entering the US have been slapped with a 10 percent tariff.
“If protectionism grows, Africa will suffer. Africa accounts for three percent of global trade and trade amongst African countries is still low,” Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of ICC World Chambers Federation (WCF), said. “I support African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) because it … creates a huge market. I call on African governments and champions of commerce to make this great agreement work faster” he added.
A full implementation of AfCFTA is expected to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, and labour in a market of nearly 1.5 billion people and a gross domestic product of about Sh3.4 trillion.
Analysts have cited poor infrastructural connectivity and a weak business environment characterised by elevated interest rates, high and unpredictable tax rates as well as bureaucratic red tape in many African countries as the biggest hurdles for the free flow of goods on the continent.
“While governments build physical infrastructure, as chamber of commerce we want to form trusted networks enabling trade despite the fiscal limitations we have in terms of logistics in Africa,” Erick Rutto, President of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KNCCI), said.
“We also want to provide business intelligence information so that SMEs and medium enterprises can be able to trade across Africa and the globe” he added.
