By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Inside 

In the wake of U.S President Trump’s tariff increases which he implemented early this year, this has put a strain on African and U.S trade relations as these 30% added tariffs are weakening the African economy. This has seen an increase in AU-EU relations over the course of the year. Evidence of this was demonstrated in the 3rd AU-EU Ministerial meeting which was held in Brussels on 21st May 2025. Donald Trump has not made it easy for European and African countries to build relations with them as well as difficulty in fostering a working landscape which aims to include African countries in helping them achieve sustainable economic development. 

This increase in boosting relations between the EU-AU stems from Trump threatening a Global Trade War as he places further tariffs on European Union goods, with major trading partners to the U.S have also threatened to retaliate in this regard by implementing increases in tariffs of their own on U.S goods. This threat was not taken kindly by Trump as he expressed that he will add more penalties if the EU follows through with their threats. This has resulted in the EU seeking to strengthen their relations with the African Union and foster commitments which will help strengthen the economic stability of both Africa and Europe. The Ministerial which was held in May made keynotes in emphasising the need to boost the relations and how some of these commitments can go into implementation.The South African Development Community (SADC) , a regional economic community of 16 member states, had expressed shock and concern over this increase in tariffs which were implemented by Trump in February which also raised concerns over the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which was initiated by the United States. These tariffs include a baseline of 10% duty on all U.S imports with additional tariffs hitting South Africa the most. The reciprocal tariff ranges between 10 to 50% according to a report made by GIS Report. The Seychelles are seemingly the only unaffected country in the SADC by these tariffs. Other countries are not so fortunate as Lesotho is hit with 50% reciprocal tariff rates by the U.S, South Africa hit with 30%, Angola is at 32%, Zimbabwe at 18%, Madagascar 47 %, Mauritius at 40% and Botswana at 37% these were figures presented at the white house in February by President Donald Trump. This has caused African countries to seek alignment with China and EU respectively, the first of the relations between AU and the EU was in a ministerial meeting that was held in Brussels. 

Key points discussed in this ministerial meeting is to bring the economy and people of both continents closer together in order to foster sustainable economic growth and development as well promote sustainable development for the African continent. The African Union Commission Chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, emphasised that it is imperative that this partnership should move away from solely holding discussions and actually move towards implementing the commitments that are discussed in order to truly reflect that this partnership is not on the surface level, but to genuinely see results in implementing commitments aimed at fostering the economic development and investments into the continent of Africa.  Ahead of the G20 summit which will be held in South Africa in November, these talks are imperative to secure these investment opportunities from Europe into Africa, the G20 will be seen as the grand stage for Africa to be heard by specifically by European and Western states, in understanding just how important the need for sustainable economic growth and development is for African states. “It is important to sustain the collective efforts to increase inclusiveness and effectiveness of multilateral institutions with the UN at its core; in the pursuit of peace and security, we have underscored the necessity of our continued cooperation.” This was a statement read by the Deputy Chairperson of the AU committee during the ministerial meeting. 

The partnership between the AU and EU will also focus on empowering the youth of both continents as well as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in order to gain a fresh perspective on how the two continents can firmly build a sustainable Africa and Europe. A key note to consider is that the last time this ministerial took place, Russia and Ukraine were not at war with one another and Sudan had not engaged in a civil war, which necessitates the urgency of this ministerial to find active solutions to the security of both African and European citizens. However at the expense of France, countries in the Sahel region which include Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Chad are deepening bilateral relations between these nations’ governments and the Russians. In the wake of this, Kallas had announced the appointment of a new Sahel Region Representative “We are also going to discuss the new Sahel strategy. That is why I also had many bilateral meetings today, also asking African countries for their input. To really hear from the ground how they see this, what could help, what could be the developments there and what we could do to help.” said Kallas in response to the situation with Sahel. The EU has expressed that they intend on helping Africa manage the wars in both Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the EUs support to African partners amounts to 1 billion euros according Kallas via the European Peace Facility, as more than half of the EU Common Security and Defense Policy Missions operate in Africa. According to a United Nations (UN) report in March, Sudan was reported as one of the largest humanitarian crises, with over 30 million people requiring aid with 16 million of them being children. “We continue to support the African Union in this (solving humanitarian crisis), when it comes to the mediation efforts, regionally. All these processes also in Africa have to be African-led and African owned, even if there is mediation needed.” 

This seems to be the makings of a global tariff war and even though it is uncertain that Trump and his administration will follow through with their threats, Africa is not in a position to find out.