China Power | Economy | East Asia

Africa Gets Duty-free Access to China – But Chinese Companies Win on Both Sides

The move could aggravate one of the continent’s most pressing economic problems: over-dependence on the export of raw and minimally-processed minerals and materials.

China is going all in to support the export of African minerals and other goods into the Middle Kingdom. Beginning May 1, China will no longer impose duty on almost all imports crossing its borders from all but one African nation.  (That one nation is Eswatini, which still does not recognize the People’s Republic of China.)

Building on previous legislation, which had already dropped duties for imports from 33 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa, the move is meant to be seen as a notable step toward furthering China’s relationship with the countries of the African continent.

Accordingly, the Chinese government has sought to publicize its zero-duty policy for Africa in glowing terms, from the top down. President Xi Jinping announced the policy at the African Union Summit. It was discussed at meetings of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and even during during WTO meetings in Geneva. Chinese state media such as Xinhua, China Central TV, and the Global Times all reported the new duty-free policy.

At first glance (as with most of China’s no-strings “gifts” to the developing nations of the world), the zero-duty policy appears to be a positive move toward greater integration between African sellers and Chinese buyers, with benefits for both.

A closer look, however, supports the theory that this Chinese initiative, purportedly made on behalf of the welfare of African sellers, aggravates and accelerates one of Africa’s most pressing economic problems: economic over-dependence on the export of raw and minimally-processed minerals and materials.

Indeed, many African countries are highly dependent on the export of minerals, and mostly minerals in a raw or minimally processed state. There is much more value available through additional processing and production from those resources, but the jobs that add that value all go to the buyer’s side – in this case, China. Thus, it behooves the buyer to get as much of any required mineral at as low a price as possible. Having the state itself reduce, or in this case, wipe out duties is a major help to maintain downward price pressure.

In the case of the minerals and metals being extracted from African mines, the irony of the new zero-duty policy is that it helps Chinese companies on both sides of the transaction. This is because, in the case of metals like cobalt, the seller and the buyer are both Chinese.

As Dr. Gracelin Baskaran of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) wrote in March 2025, “The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries, and in 2024, it attracted the largest volume of mineral exploration investment in Africa.” And much of that investment was Chinese.

The absence of U.S. government involvement in commercial matters has enabled China to further cement its dominance in one of the most resource-rich nations in the world. In 2016, the American company Freeport-McMoRan sold one of the world’s most valuable copper and cobalt mines, Tenke Fungurume (TFM), to China Molybdenum Company (CMOC). It is the largest cobalt mine in the world.

The absence of U.S. government involvement in commercial matters has enabled China to further cement its dominance in one of the most resource-rich nations in the world. In 2016, the American company Freeport-McMoRan sold one of the world’s most valuable copper and cobalt mines, Tenke Fungurume (TFM), to China Molybdenum Company (CMOC). It is the largest cobalt mine in the world.

Chinese companies now control the vast majority of cobalt mining interests in the DRC, which has the largest holdings in the world.  When cobalt is extracted from a DRC mine, therefore, it is more than likely from the corporate hands of a Chinese company, like CMOC. Thus, the export is from a Chinese company in the DRC to a Chinese company in China. The benefits of the zero-duty policy accrue to Chinese entities on both sides of the transaction.

Meanwhile, the costs of mining are borne by African countries like the DRC. That incudes environmental damage, displacement of local populations – and, most disturbingly, the persistent existence of child labor in and around the mines of Africa.

As the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. reported in 2020: “Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children, some as young as six years. Much of the work is informal small-scale mining in which laborers earn less than $2 per day while using their own tools, primarily their hands.”

Chinese mining companies are infamous for their lax standards, from environmental safeguards to protections for children.

By flaunting its duty-free policy directive for Africa, China has inadvertently turned the spotlight back onto all of its activities on the African continent, reminding the world of its monopolistic practices, its willingness to turn a blind eye to a whole host of human and labor rights infringements, and most egregious, its tolerance for child labor. For those looking to continue to confront China on these issues, perhaps that time has come.

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China is going all in to support the export of African minerals and other goods into the Middle Kingdom. Beginning May 1, China will no longer impose duty on almost all imports crossing its borders from all but one African nation.  (That one nation is Eswatini, which still does not recognize the People’s Republic of China.)

Building on previous legislation, which had already dropped duties for imports from 33 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa, the move is meant to be seen as a notable step toward furthering China’s relationship with the countries of the African continent.

Accordingly, the Chinese government has sought to publicize its zero-duty policy for Africa in glowing terms, from the top down. President Xi Jinping announced the policy at the African Union Summit. It was discussed at meetings of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and even during during WTO meetings in Geneva. Chinese state media such as Xinhua, China Central TV, and the Global Times all reported the new duty-free policy.

At first glance (as with most of China’s no-strings “gifts” to the developing nations of the world), the zero-duty policy appears to be a positive move toward greater integration between African sellers and Chinese buyers, with benefits for both.

A closer look, however, supports the theory that this Chinese initiative, purportedly made on behalf of the welfare of African sellers, aggravates and accelerates one of Africa’s most pressing economic problems: economic over-dependence on the export of raw and minimally-processed minerals and materials.

Indeed, many African countries are highly dependent on the export of minerals, and mostly minerals in a raw or minimally processed state. There is much more value available through additional processing and production from those resources, but the jobs that add that value all go to the buyer’s side – in this case, China. Thus, it behooves the buyer to get as much of any required mineral at as low a price as possible. Having the state itself reduce, or in this case, wipe out duties is a major help to maintain downward price pressure.

In the case of the minerals and metals being extracted from African mines, the irony of the new zero-duty policy is that it helps Chinese companies on both sides of the transaction. This is because, in the case of metals like cobalt, the seller and the buyer are both Chinese.

As Dr. Gracelin Baskaran of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) wrote in March 2025, “The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries, and in 2024, it attracted the largest volume of mineral exploration investment in Africa.” And much of that investment was Chinese.

The absence of U.S. government involvement in commercial matters has enabled China to further cement its dominance in one of the most resource-rich nations in the world. In 2016, the American company Freeport-McMoRan sold one of the world’s most valuable copper and cobalt mines, Tenke Fungurume (TFM), to China Molybdenum Company (CMOC). It is the largest cobalt mine in the world.

The absence of U.S. government involvement in commercial matters has enabled China to further cement its dominance in one of the most resource-rich nations in the world. In 2016, the American company Freeport-McMoRan sold one of the world’s most valuable copper and cobalt mines, Tenke Fungurume (TFM), to China Molybdenum Company (CMOC). It is the largest cobalt mine in the world.

Chinese companies now control the vast majority of cobalt mining interests in the DRC, which has the largest holdings in the world.  When cobalt is extracted from a DRC mine, therefore, it is more than likely from the corporate hands of a Chinese company, like CMOC. Thus, the export is from a Chinese company in the DRC to a Chinese company in China. The benefits of the zero-duty policy accrue to Chinese entities on both sides of the transaction.

Meanwhile, the costs of mining are borne by African countries like the DRC. That incudes environmental damage, displacement of local populations – and, most disturbingly, the persistent existence of child labor in and around the mines of Africa.

As the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. reported in 2020: “Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children, some as young as six years. Much of the work is informal small-scale mining in which laborers earn less than $2 per day while using their own tools, primarily their hands.”

Chinese mining companies are infamous for their lax standards, from environmental safeguards to protections for children.

By flaunting its duty-free policy directive for Africa, China has inadvertently turned the spotlight back onto all of its activities on the African continent, reminding the world of its monopolistic practices, its willingness to turn a blind eye to a whole host of human and labor rights infringements, and most egregious, its tolerance for child labor. For those looking to continue to confront China on these issues, perhaps that time has come.

Bonnie Girard is President of China Channel Ltd. She has lived and worked in China for half of her adult life, beginning in 1987 when she studied at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.

China mining in the DRC

China-Africa investment

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