Africa's Economic Integration and Trade Defence Instruments

The launching of the African tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) in 2015 presents an opportunity for accelerating regional integration towards the establishment of a single market. This milestone can contribute to African development. Nevertheless, it faces structural and technical challenges, including the risk of aggressive export strategies and unfair trade practices. This could undermine African integration plans and the largely infant industries in Africa, especially since many African countries lack sufficient technical skills, institutional capacity, and the legal framework to deal efficiently and effectively with unfair trade practices. The book concludes that, although an effective TDI system is crucial for African integration, the current African TDI systems are ineffective. The concluded T-FTA TDI legal regime is not supportive for African integration plans in the long run. Africa should upgrade its TDI system to make better use of the tools available under the WTO to face competition and deal with unfair trade measures, including anti-dumping, countervailing measures, and safeguard measures while learning from lessons of other economic integration blocks.