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In June 2015, the African Union (AU) Summit adopted the negotiating guidelines and roadmap for the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017. The move towa...

As the process of regional integration continues with countries in Africa now committed to establish a continental free trade area (CFTA), it is in South Africa’s interest to ens...

The African Economic Community (AEC) was established by the Abuja Treaty (1991) as an integral part of the African Union (AU). One of its objectives is to promote economic, so...

In April 2015, the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) adopted the Revised Regional Indicative Strategi...

On 15 June 2015, the African Union Assembly launched the negotiations to establish the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017. Experience of existing Free Trade Areas (FTAs)&nb...

With a GDP (PPP) of over US$ 707 billion South Africa is currently the second largest economy in Africa after being surpassed by Nigeria in recent years. The country is considered ...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has received much publicity and attention over the past year in particular, for two main reasons: (a) the legislation was set to expir...

The facts pertaining to the recent difficulties between the United States and South Africa about the latter’s continued enjoyment of the trade preferences of the African Growth a...

The aim of this paper is to illustrate an Excel spreadsheet* simulation that can be used to determine the trade creation and trade diversion effects of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)...

A decade ago the news that the four South American countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay that make up the core group of Mercosur (in Spanish, Mercado Común del Sur)...

The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) was the outcome of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations (1986-1994). The objective of the AoA was to remove agricultural trade di...

As effects of climate change worsen, droughts have become more frequent and severe in southern Africa. Combined with this year’s strongest ever recorded El Niño phenomenon – t...

Export taxes have been used as long as international trade has taken place, both as a generator of revenue and also for strategic reasons. However, despite the unambiguously negati...

The World Economic Forum (WEF), held in Davos Switzerland every year since 1971, is a gathering of (most of) the most important decision makers in business and government. Even tho...

This trade brief reviews the outcomes of the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 held in Paris during December 2015. Africa’s role in these negotiations will be highlighted and the im...

Although the idea that Africa’s next stage in development requires industrialization is decades old, the current process of linking industrialization to the continent’s trade r...

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) owes its existence to the fourth WTO Ministerial Conference held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001, which resulted in the Doha declaration. There we...

Trade costs are a major influence on the pattern of global trade and can limit the extent to which countries are able to exploit their comparative advantages and market access oppo...

While agricultural protection has been declining in recent years, several sectors remain heavily protected in many countries. These sectors include sugar, rice and dairy, and this ...

The objective of this working paper is to provide some background to the South African trade and investment profile in recent years, with a special emphasis on the trade relations ...