Future UK-Africa trade policy will mirror EU approach

Significance

Even in a no-deal outcome, the United Kingdom's trade orientation towards Africa will look remarkably familiar as London seeks immediately to replicate the terms of the EU’s economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with Sub-Saharan African states.

Impacts

• Opposition will grow to the EU’s EPAs -- and to the replicated UK EPAs -- by trade justice campaigners.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could potentially help African states collectively to renegotiate EPAs on a fairer footing.
• A key London post-Brexit focus will be persuading African EPA sceptics (such as Nigeria or Tanzania) to join such regional free trade deals.