This article is part of a Synergies series on African trade and sustainability priorities and interests. Any views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of TESS or any of its partner organizations or funders.

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As the dust settles after the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, a question that warrants attention is what are the short-term priorities Africa should focus on in the multilateral trading system going forward and what strategies should it adopt?

For Africa, the main challenge remains its low share of global trade and manufactured value added, largely due to the fact that the continent’s exports are dominated by commodities and raw materials. The second challenge—one that poses an existential threat—is climate change, related to issues such as sustainable fisheries and agriculture, green industrialization, and energy transitions.

These challenges are compounded by the complexity of the current international economic context. We live in an era of economic uncertainty, dominated by the return of industrial policies and the imbrication of trade and national security considerations. In addition, old alliances are struggling to reinvent themselves and adapt to new realities; while new alliances are discovering that beyond good intentions, in an environment of heightened geopolitical tensions and economic competition there are hard choices to be made to remain ahead in an age of green industrialization, energy transitions, and digitalization, and artificial intelligence.

Against this backdrop—and without discounting other equally important concerns—we identify three main priorities Africa should focus on to advance its trade and sustainability agenda and recommend a strategy based on a proactive and regionally coordinated approach. 

The first and immediate priority for Africa is to play a leading role in the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and its disciplines, which entered into force in September 2025, with acceptance of 23 African countries.

This is not just a matter of food security for millions of Africans; it is also a source of lost government revenue as an estimated $11.2 billion per year slips through African countries’ fingers due to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

If the financial rewards outweigh the risks of enforcement, IUU fishing is expected to continue. It is therefore in the self-interest of the remaining African countries to join the fisheries subsidies agreement and lead in the effective implementation of its disciplines. As underscored by African trade ministers in the Maputo Ministerial Declaration on the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference, this is crucial for the preservation and sustainable management of global marine resources. 

In addition, in line with MC14 Ministerial Decision requesting the Negotiating Group on Rules to continue negotiations on additional provisions that would achieve a comprehensive agreement on fisheries subsidies by MC15, African countries should play a more proactive role in the work of the negotiating group on remaining issues, and advocate for development-friendly subsidies applicable to low-income countries as well as small island developing states. 

The second priority for African countries is to emphasize the need to discipline the increasing use of unilateral trade-related climate measures which have the potential to distort trade, including in agricultural goods. One example is the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which constrains exports of agricultural products from several African countries as it increases their production cost. The Commonwealth Secretariat estimates that $40.2 billion of Africa’s exports of agricultural goods and derived products were affected from 2021 to 2023, and that sub-Saharan Africa could lose up to $11 billion annually in export revenue should the region fail to meet EUDR requirements.

Another example is the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will apply to key African exports such as cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity, and hydrogen. The African Climate Foundation and London School of Economics estimate that an application of CBAM to all imported products would negatively impact the GDP of 11 African least developed countries by more than 1.5% and up to 8.4%. This contraction could translate into a continent-wide GDP reduction of approximately 0.9%, equivalent to $25 billion (based on 2021 GDP levels). 

The impact would be considerably higher if other trading partners such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan join the EU in implementing a border carbon adjustment.

In addition to seeking to discipline the use of trade-related climate measures, African countries should pursue technological cooperation to facilitate access to clean and environmentally sound technologies, including by leveraging the flexibilities under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The direction is clear, the future of the global economy is green. There is an opportunity for Africa to leapfrog into a sustainable industrialized future and energy transition, while playing an important role in the supply and value chains of environmental goods and services, which are in high demand across the continent. For example, available data suggests that Africa’s solar panel imports rose by 60% in the twelve months to June 2025. The African Policy Research Institute estimates that Africa in 2024 experienced a trade deficit with the world of over $2 billion in green goods.

In this regard, African countries should seek the modernization of flexibilities in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs Agreement) to enhance their participation in production and trade related to the regions green industrialization and energy transition. This should include the possibility to provide subsidies (“sustainable subsidies”) within reasonable timeframes and use local content requirements as well as cooperation in technology transfer to advance the African Union Agenda 2063 objective of structural transformation through industrialization, value addition, and export diversification.

This is especially important in the context of the return of industrial policies. While advanced economies deploy subsidies, impose unilateral trade restrictions, and use technological controls to bolster strategic sectors, African countries—like many low-income countries in the Global South—remain bound by a multilateral trade and investment architecture that narrows their policy space.

For example, Africa has the critical minerals needed for the energy transition, but often lacks the technology, know-how, and investment necessary to add value to such minerals.

Modernizing flexibilities under the TRIMs Agreement is therefore important to ensure that Africa produces the value-added goods demanded across the continent, increases its share of global trade and manufacturing, and ultimately reduces current trade imbalances with its trading partners.

The goal pursued through such an offensive approach is not a technical ban on the export of critical minerals; but rather to achieve a consensus on the minimum level of transformation that should take place at source to address current trade imbalances, while ensuring secured and predictable global supply chains of such materials for a mutually beneficial outcome for all. 

Another equally important objective is to ensure that Africa’s critical minerals are used to accelerate the development of regional value chains and intra-African trade in green and energy-efficient goods, which, as noted, are in high and growing demand across the continent—notably solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs), and energy-efficient electronics and equipment. According to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Africa’s EV market was valued at $15.6 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $28.3 billion by 2030. Similarly, the EV charging market is projected to skyrocket from $31.9 million in 2022 to $256.5 million by 2030. It is highly probable that the 2026 conflict in Iran and the Middle East and its impact on global fuel supply chains and energy markets, notably in developing countries, will further accelerate these trends.

To advance Africa’s trade and sustainability priorities, the strategy could encompass a two-pronged approach supported by strong regional coordination.

First, Africa should join any initiative promoting its priorities and developmental aspirations. While not all African WTO members need to be represented in these initiatives, the African group coordinates and serves as the platform for ensuring that participating countries articulate and safeguard the interests of the whole continent. 

Second, Africa should proactively lead the building of “coalitions of the willing” to advance her interests, including through plurilateral engagements. Cooperation with other countries of the Global South experiencing the same types of challenges should be prioritized. Such coalitions should leverage Africa’s assets in the current regional context of green industrialization, energy transition, demographic shift, and fierce competition for market access. In this respect, Africa’s single market, created through the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with 1.4 billion consumers, a rapidly growing middle class standing at around 350 million, and purchasing power estimated at $2.1 trillion—as well as vast mineral resources and a young population—should be used strategically to advance the continent’s interests at the WTO. 

A new economic order is taking shape before us; one increasingly marked by an evolution in the way the multilateral trading system centred on the WTO is understood. While African countries should continue supporting the WTO as the cornerstone of that system, they should also recognize the value of the many plurilateral initiatives that form on the margins of the system and are gradually brought under its umbrella once they reach a certain level of maturity.

In addition, in the context of green industrialization and the energy transition, adopting approaches that prioritize the African market as a source of trade expansion that delivers win-win gains for all who invest, while guaranteeing the security of supply chains, may be more palatable than any discourse based purely on legal or ideological grounds—no matter how well constructed and articulated.

Ultimately, Africa’s capacity to advance its trade and sustainability priorities and interests at the WTO will depend largely on her ability to understand and operate under new rules and realities. This calls on increased regional coordination led by an effective African Union agency—a more robust African Union Commission and AfCFTA Secretariat working in greater symbiosis—under the impulsion of African lead economies. 

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Jean-Bertrand Azapmo is Principal Advisor to the African Union Commission for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals.

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Synergies is an online platform featuring expert commentary and opinions curated by TESS. We foster dialogue and incubate ideas on how to shape a global trading system that effectively addresses global environmental crises and advances sustainable development. Synergies draws on perspectives from leading experts and practitioners across policy communities from around the world. We cultivate solutions-oriented policy analysis for a sustainable future.

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