It’s conventional wisdom that the worse the U.S.-China trade war becomes, the worse it will be for African countries who are effectively caught in the middle. But that may be the case, writes Botswana Trade Minister Bogolo Kenewendo in a new article published on Real Clear World. She makes the case that African policymakers have to be smarter about how they deal with these two powers and should abandon one-size-fits-all policies in favor of “creative strategies to navigate an increasingly bipolar world.”

While most observers are rightly concerned about the impact the trade war is having on African economies due to fluctuating commodity prices and reduced exports, Kenewendo’s is certainly counter-intuitive but definitely worth considering.