Africa Embraces Free Trade As Advanced Countries Intensify Protectionism (#Forbes #Column)

The WTO’s striking announcement in July that the incidence of trade-restrictive measures imposed by G-20 governments remains at an historically high, punctuated the sober landscape of international commerce to which we have sadly become accustomed over the past 2? years.

If history is any guide, such policies do not bode well for continued economic growth. It is surely not a stance one expects from the world’s most advanced countries.

As I argue in my latest monthly #Forbes column, remarkably, to many, it's now the African states who are the global vanguards for breaking down trade barriers. On almost the same day as the issuance of the WTO report, 54 of the 55 countries on the African continent that comprise the African Union became signatories of the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

 Once fully implemented, AfCFTA is estimated to embody a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion and a population of over one billion, 60 percent of whom are below the age of 25.