US tariff: Africa must look internally to re-orient trading patterns – Dr. Fareed Arthur

Immediate past National Coordinator of AfCFTA, Dr. Fareed Arthur has said the recent tariff imposed on countries by the US is an opportunity for African markets to review change its trading patterns to benefit from the 1.4 billion population the continent boasts of.

US President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs for countries with Ghana hit by 10% tariff.

Commenting on the development, Dr. Fareed Arthur noted that the decision by the US will force African countries to seek alternative markets, a problem he believes the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) provides solutions to.

Dr. Arthur argued that African countries must see this not as a challenge but an opportunity to add value to its products and take advantage of the Continent’s market.

“But I do believe that initially it will lead Africans to look for alternative markets and that is what the AfCFTA is all about so may be this provides us an opportunity to try to convert challenge into opportunity to try to get Africa to start adding value to the products that we produce and be able to export these products to African countries.

“So, I believe that this is a challenging period for the world economy but for Africa it provides a good opportunity for us to now look internally to see how best we can reorient our trading patterns to see how best we can take advantage of the 1.4 billion people that we have,” he explained in an interview on TV3’s News Central, Thursday, April 3, 2025.

When asked how responsive AfCFTA is in addressing this challenge, he expressed optimism that “So far, the political will has been very positive. 49 out of the 54 countries that have signed and ratified this agreement and so with time I believe this can be achieved.”

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