54 African countries have signed the Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA, of which 30 have deposited their instruments of ratification. Of these 29, updated trade data for 2018 is available 18 countries. Although some countries have already submitted their tariff offers, the configuration of the state parties for tariff negotiations and the level of ambition of liberalisation is uncertain. Will negotiations only be among state parties that have deposited their instruments of ratification? What to do with RECs which have not yet achieved intra-REC liberalisation?

In December 2018, the modalities agreed to called for 90 percent liberalisation of tariff lines; with 7 percent sensitive products with a longer liberalisation timeframe (10 years for developing and 13 years for least developed countries) and 3 percent excluded products. What will be included in the 90 percent liberalisation and will the targeted tariff line coverage suffice the 'substantially all trade' requirement of the GATT?