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There have been divergent opinions as to what undermine Africa´s export flows to the developed nations, particularly the EU and USA. African governments have consistently identified tariff barriers as major hindrances to Africa´s exports. On the other hand, studies have found the preferential tariff rates which apply to Africa´s exports are too negligible to affect African export flows to the developed economies. However, most of these studies examined only the demand side of the problem without considering the supply side, among the relevant factors. Thus, this study evaluated the effects of trade restrictions on Africa´s exports to the EU and USA markets. The study used secondary data covering 36 African countries that trade with the EU and USA on products that spread across agricultural, industrial and petroleum sectors. It was discovered that Africa´s export flows to these countries are generally not significantly affected by tariff barriers, since the continent enjoys preferential tariffs. Improved supply response capacity, more favourable trade agreements and reduction in the level of NTBs are imperative to Africa´s export flows to these countries.

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The author specializes in the area of Trade, Trade Policy and Development. He has written several works in these areas of Economics. He was a fellow of the Journal of African Economies of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford in 2009. Presently, he is a Consultant at the World Bank Nigeria Country Office.

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