Post #556

🔵What’s So Good About Tariffs?🔵 The US and China are racing to eliminate trade barriers for African countries. These "goodwill gestures" are framed as a gift for African business — but in reality, they’re a one-way ticket to the "Dutch disease." 🌐 Less than two weeks after Trump extended the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)— a Bush-era law offering duty-free access to the US market for over 30 African countries — Xi Jinping did the same, but for all African nations and with no strings attached, starting May 1. Both moves are widely touted as a gift from the big to struggling African businesses. But there’s an elephant in the room: complex industrial goods from Africa will never be competitive in the already saturated markets of the U.S. and China. ⏩Here’s a prediction: as soon as China lifts all tariffs on May 1, the first exports to surge will be oil, mineral ores and semi-processed raw materials. The real competition over zero tariffs for Africa is a tug-of-war over primary commodity export flows. ❗️ Why is even this bad? Because lower export costs for raw materials make investors even less interested in building factories — why bother when shipping unprocessed goods to China just became even more profitable? In the end, governments will face the dilemma of artificially restricting their own exports — through quotas and bans. The sad part is, few authorities seem to realize this. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow