China has steadily expanded its global trade footprint and now surpasses the U.S. as the leading trading partner in many regions around the world.
In Africa, for instance, China overtook the U.S. as the continentโs top trading partner back in 2009โa position it continues to hold today.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, visualizes whether each African country trades with the U.S. or China more in 2003 versus 2023.
Data comes from the Observatory of Economic Complexity and UN Comtrade via the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 2023 or the latest data available was used.
African Countries Are Choosing China over the States
Below, we show which country (U.S. or China) each African country traded with more in 2003 versus 2023.
Country | Trades more with? (2003) | Trades more with? (2023) |
---|---|---|
๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฆ๐ด Angola | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ง๐ฏ Benin | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ง๐ผ Botswana | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ง๐ซ Burkina Faso | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ง๐ฎ Burundi | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ฒ Cameroon | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ป Cape Verde | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ซ Central African Republic | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐น๐ฉ Chad | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฐ๐ฒ Comoros | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ฌ Republic of the Congo | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ฉ Democratic Republic of the Congo | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฉ๐ฏ Djibouti | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ช๐ฌ Egypt | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ถ Equatorial Guinea | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ช๐ท Eritrea | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ฟ Eswatini | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
๐ช๐น Ethiopia | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ฆ Gabon | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ฒ The Gambia | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ญ Ghana | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ณ Guinea | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฌ๐ผ Guinea-Bissau | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐จ๐ฎ Cรดte d'Ivoire | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฐ๐ช Kenya | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฑ๐ธ Lesotho | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
๐ฑ๐ท Liberia | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฑ๐พ Libya | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ผ Malawi | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ท Mauritania | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐บ Mauritius | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ฆ Morocco | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฒ๐ฟ Mozambique | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ณ๐ฆ Namibia | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ณ๐ช Niger | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ณ๐ฌ Nigeria | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ท๐ผ Rwanda | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐น Sรฃo Tomรฉ & Prรญncipe | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ณ Senegal | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐จ Seychelles | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ฑ Sierra Leone | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ด Somalia | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ธ South Sudan | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ธ๐ฉ Sudan | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐น๐ฟ Tanzania | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐น๐ฌ Togo | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐น๐ณ Tunisia | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐บ๐ฌ Uganda | ๐บ๐ธ United States | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฟ๐ฒ Zambia | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
๐ฟ๐ผ Zimbabwe | ๐จ๐ณ China | ๐จ๐ณ China |
In 2003, China was the preferred trading partner over the U.S. for 18 African countries or 35% of the continent.
Fast forward 20 years, 52 out of the 54 African countries (97%) trade more with China than with the U.S. as of 2023.
China-Africa trade climbed to $295 billion in 2024, marking a 6% year-on-year increase.
Beyond trade, China has also increased its foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent, with annual FDI flows rising from about $75 million in 2003 to nearly $4 billion in 2023, focusing on sectors like agriculture, light manufacturing, and services.
China has proactively sought to improve China-Africa relations through major initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Forum on ChinaโAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC), which are designed to boost trade by investing in infrastructure, streamlining trade processes, and strengthening African value chains.
However, China has also faced criticism for alleged โdebt-trap diplomacy,โ a practice in which it is accused of providing loans to countries that may struggle to repay them, including many of Africaโs poorest countries.
To learn more about Chinaโs trade relations, check out this graphic that visualizes the countryโs exports by region from 2000 to 2022.
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