By Semafor Africa
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The size of China’s exports to Africa in the first three months of 2025 — an 11% increase year-on-year. Africa’s exports to China, on the other hand, fell by 9% to about $27 billion, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
Chinese state media highlighted the country’s rising trade with Nairobi in particular as Kenyan President William Ruto arrived in Beijing for a state visit on Tuesday, the first by an African leader since US President Donald Trump unveiled his new global tariff regime. Sino-Kenyan trade reached a record of $2.24 billion in the first quarter of this year, with both imports from and exports to Kenya rising at double digit rates year-on-year.
Writing on X after a public lecture at Peking University, Ruto said he pressed for the “urgent need to fashion a new world order” in light of the ongoing trade wars. The global financial system that arose post-World War II has “largely benefited the Global North at the expense of the Global South,” he said.
