China-South Africa Partnership Enters New Era as Trade, Investment and Zero Tariffs Open Africa’s Next Growth Chapter

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: What is happening between China and South Africa in 2026 points to an important new phase in China-Africa economic cooperation — one increasingly focused on manufacturing, investment, market access, technology, skills and value-added production.

A recent analysis published by the Somali National News Agency (SONNA), titled “What Johannesburg tells us about China in Africa: the numbers behind the partnership,” uses South Africa as a case study to examine the changing nature of China’s engagement with Africa.

While the article raises questions about trade patterns and the need for African countries to increase local value addition, its figures also reveal something significant: China-South Africa economic relations are becoming deeper, more diversified and increasingly connected to industrial development.

This development comes at a particularly important time for the continent.

From trade to industrial partnership

South Africa has been China’s largest trading partner in Africa for many years. According to the SONNA analysis, bilateral trade reached about US$52 billion in 2024, while China-Africa trade reached a record US$348 billion in 2025.

Those numbers demonstrate the scale of the relationship.

But the more important question for Africa is what happens next.

The answer increasingly lies in moving from a relationship based heavily on the exchange of commodities and manufactured products towards one involving local production, processing, technology, skills development and African participation in global value chains.

South Africa is already pursuing this direction.

The acquisition of the former Nissan manufacturing plant in Rosslyn, Gauteng, by Chinese automaker Chery provides a powerful example.

Chery says its Rosslyn operation is intended to become an integrated automotive hub covering manufacturing, research and development, supply chains and skills training. The company plans to retain the factory’s 692 employees and expects its activities to support nearly 3,000 jobs upstream and downstream. It is also targeting an initial 40% localisation rate by 2028.

This is significant because it illustrates how Chinese investment can increasingly become part of Africa’s industrial ecosystem rather than simply supplying finished products to African consumers.

South Africa’s government has also described the Chery investment as a signal of continued global confidence in the country’s industrial capabilities and its position as an automotive gateway to Africa.

China opens a bigger door for African exports

Perhaps the biggest development for China-Africa trade in 2026 is China’s expansion of zero-tariff treatment to all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations.

The policy came into effect on 1 May 2026.

For South Africa, the opportunity is especially important because it can make a wider range of South African products more competitive in the world’s enormous Chinese consumer market.

China’s first shipment under the expanded African zero-tariff arrangement was particularly symbolic: 24 tonnes of South African apples cleared customs in Shenzhen on 1 May.

The South African Revenue Service confirms that the country’s zero-tariff arrangement operates from 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2028, subject to the applicable rules of origin and other requirements. SARS has also established procedures for certificates of origin and retrospective certification in qualifying circumstances.

For South African farmers, agro-processors and exporters, this creates a new commercial opportunity.

It also creates an incentive to ask a bigger question: How can South Africa export more finished and processed products rather than primarily raw materials?

That is where China-South Africa cooperation could have an even greater economic impact.

A new opportunity for African value addition

China’s zero-tariff policy does more than reduce the cost of entering the Chinese market.

It can potentially encourage investment in Africa because companies have a greater incentive to process African resources and agricultural products locally before exporting them.

China’s government has explicitly linked the zero-tariff initiative to the possibility of increased investment, technology, equipment and management expertise entering African economies.

For South Africa, this could support opportunities across agriculture, agro-processing, minerals, automotive manufacturing, renewable energy, technology and other sectors.

The opportunity is particularly relevant to South Africa’s ambition to move further up global value chains.

The South African government has repeatedly emphasised the importance of value-added exports, local manufacturing and industrialisation in its engagement with China.

During engagements in China in June, Deputy President Paul Mashatile highlighted the need to deepen trade, investment and friendship between the two countries, while promoting value-added South African exports and attracting investment from Shenzhen.

South Africa as a gateway to Africa

The relationship also has significance beyond the two countries.

South Africa has one of Africa’s most developed manufacturing, financial, logistics and industrial ecosystems. This creates the possibility for Chinese companies operating in South Africa to use the country as a platform for reaching wider African markets.

At the same time, South African companies can use China’s enormous consumer and industrial market to expand their international reach.

This creates a potentially powerful two-way bridge:

Chinese capital, technology and industrial expertise can support African production, while African resources, products, markets and entrepreneurial capacity can create new opportunities for Chinese businesses.

The result can be a relationship that is increasingly based on co-production rather than simply trade.

China-Africa relations enter a practical phase

The broader China-Africa relationship is also becoming more institutionalised.

South Africa’s government reported in February that the China-Africa Economic Partnership Agreement was part of ongoing efforts to develop a framework for expanded trade relations, while South Africa and China continued discussions around an Early Harvest Agreement and wider economic cooperation.

In June, the South African government again highlighted the importance of concluding the Early Harvest Agreement and strengthening cooperation under the China-Africa economic framework.

This points to a future in which China-Africa relations are increasingly defined by market access, industrialisation, investment and economic integration.

For African countries, the opportunity is not simply to export more.

It is to produce more.

The Johannesburg lesson

The most useful lesson from Johannesburg may therefore be different from the conclusion suggested by a simple reading of trade statistics.

The relationship between China and South Africa is no longer only about what leaves South African mines or what arrives in South African ports.

It is increasingly about what can be manufactured in South Africa, how many local businesses can join the supply chain, how many African workers can acquire new skills, how agricultural products can be processed locally, and how South African companies can reach Chinese consumers.

The Chery investment provides one example.

The zero-tariff arrangement provides another.

The growing China-Africa trade relationship provides the wider platform.

None of these developments removes the challenges that South Africa and other African countries face. Issues such as trade balances, local content, standards, skills, infrastructure and industrial capacity will continue to require serious policy attention.

But those challenges can also become areas for deeper cooperation.

For South Africa, the strategic opportunity is to use its relationship with China to strengthen its industrial base while creating opportunities for African producers and businesses.

For China, deeper localisation and African value addition can help create more sustainable and diversified markets.

And for the wider continent, the expanding China-Africa relationship presents an opportunity to move from being primarily a supplier of raw materials towards becoming a more active participant in manufacturing and global supply chains.

A partnership with a bigger horizon

The figures tell one story: China-Africa trade is already enormous.

The factories, investment projects and new market-access arrangements point to another story: the next chapter could be about what Africa produces from that relationship.

South Africa is positioned at the centre of that transformation.

With zero-tariff access creating new export possibilities, Chinese investment expanding into manufacturing and the two governments working on deeper economic arrangements, the China-South Africa relationship is entering a period in which cooperation can increasingly be measured not only in billions of dollars of trade, but also in factories, jobs, skills, processed products, technology, exports and new African businesses entering global markets.

That is the bigger China-Africa opportunity emerging from Johannesburg.