The Good News, Bad News About Uganda’s Trade With China

Chinese ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, briefed the media about the current state of relations between the two countries on March 29, 2024. Image via Xinhua.

Chinese trade with Uganda has more than doubled over the past ten years from $600 million to $1.3 billion, according to Zhang Lizhong, China’s ambassador to the East African country.

While that is undoubtedly encouraging, the figures conceal a much deeper problem in the bilateral trade relationship where African countries like Uganda buy a lot from China but don’t sell very much in return.

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