US counters China as Beijing’s ‘shock wave’ hits African economies

August 27, 2026 6:00am EDT / Fox News

Senior US official says ‘No country is immune to the negative impacts of China’s unfair trade practices and state-subsidized overcapacity’

By Paul Tilsley, Fox News

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JOHANNESBURG: A top State Department official has hit out at China for what analysts are calling “the China shock wave” effect now crippling African economies.

African manufacturing is reportedly being battered by a surge of Chinese imports. It’s a triple whammy — China takes raw materials, including critical minerals, from the continent and floods Africa with state-subsidized products. And Beijing isn’t importing anywhere near an equal amount of African products.

The China Global South Project reported that in 2025, Chinese exports to Africa hit $225 billion in value, whereas imports from Africa were roughly only half that — $123 billion.

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China’s Xi Jinping with President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani (L), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Senegalese President Macky Sall attend the China-Africa Leaders’ Roundtable Dialogue on the last day of the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Aug.24, 2023.(Alet Pretorius/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Now the Trump administration aims to change this imbalance — and create opportunities for American businesses.

“China continues to flood Africa with exports,” Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia told Fox News Digital. He added, “No country is immune to the negative impacts of China’s unfair trade practices and state-subsidized overcapacity. China’s economic engagement with African countries has often led to unsustainable debt, economic coercion and an oversupply of Chinese imports threatening to displace and preventing the development of local industries.”

He continued, “The U.S. government aims to offer credible alternatives that leverage public and private financing in priority areas that make America safer, stronger and more prosperous. The United States is committed to maintaining the strong, open investment environment that benefits our economy and our people, while enhancing our ability to protect our nation from new and evolving threats that can accompany foreign investment.”

Elaine Dezenski, senior director and head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital China is the number one trading partner for many African countries but warned “that doesn’t mean that African countries are moving up the value chain. On the contrary, some African countries are increasingly tied into a cycle of mineral and other natural resource exports to China, only to be on the receiving end of finished goods, also from China.”

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A general view of the Chinese-built Maputo-Katembe Bridge taken on Nov. 10, 2018 in Maputo, Mozambique.(Roberto Matchissa/AFP via Getty Images)

Dezenski added, “Africa wants to manufacture. Chinese exports are getting in the way. Key exports from China are substituting for specific products that could be manufactured in Africa. As China is increasingly shut out of U.S. and European markets through high tariff regimes, Africa is feeling the effects, while China still claims it’s supporting emerging economies.”

China has lent the money to build new roads, bridges and other infrastructure in Mozambique. But in this, the fifth-poorest country in the world where jobs are in short supply, Beijing insisted that Chinese companies should do the construction. Mozambicans in some cases stood by, while workers brought 7,000 miles from Beijing to dig up the streets became a feature in this African country.

Beijing has now targeted Africa in another way. Between 17% and 40% of all car sales in South Africa are for vehicles from China. The goal appears not to stop at imports. The Chinese government-owned carmaker Chery has recently bought South Africa’s Nissan plant, and will make Chinese models such as Jetour near Johannesburg.

Chery Automobile Chairman Yin Tongyue (R2) and South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile (R3) attend the launch of the Chery manufacturing facility at the former Nissan factory on July 3, 2026, in Rosslyn, Pretoria, South Africa. China’s Chery formally took over Nissan’s car manufacturing plant in Rosslyn on Friday under a deal that was announced in January, and executives said the company will spend millions of dollars upgrading and adding machinery ahead of starting vehicle production in South Africa in mid-2027.(Sun Xiang/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

But China has won over many South African consumers.”China is delivering better vehicles and better prices to South African consumers — and this is pushing Western-oriented firms out of the market,” analyst Frans Cronje told Fox News Digital.

Cronje, president of the Washington-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, added,”The South African and broader sub-Saharan business communities have always shown a Western lean or bias, in large part a consequence of the region’s colonial past. But China’s industrial influence is changing, and as the South African vehicle industry shows, that change can be rapid and occur with the support of consumers. Privately, many Western firms say they don’t know if they can remain competitive.”

The U.S. is making its own waves in Africa though. The administration’s Bureau of African Affairs has reported it has worked on 37 commercial transactions that have closed since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term — representing $25.67 billion in total value, with more still being reported.

A sign at the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) memorial park in Lusaka, Zambia, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. For over a decade, China poured more than $120 billion of government-backed loans through its Belt and Road Initiative to build hydropower plants, roads and rail lines across the continent as well as unparalleled influence.(Zinyange Auntony/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There’s a way to go. While American goods traded with Africa last year were valued at $83.4 billion by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Beijing’s General Administration of Customs claimed bilateral trade between China and Africa reached $348 billion for the same period.

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The will to succeed, though, is clear. Assistant Secretary Garcia added, “The United States is committed to reshaping the global critical minerals and rare earths market to make it more diverse, secure and reliable. We will work with African partners to address risks from non-market actors and ensure supply chain security. We are using diplomatic and economic tools to promote fair and transparent markets that work for everyone.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, D.C., for comment.

Paul Tilsley is a veteran correspondent who has reported from four continents for more than three decades. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, he can be followed on X @paultilsley.