Chinese President Xi Jinping surprised a lot of people last month when he made an unannounced stopover in Morocco on his way home from the G20 summit in Brazil. The North African country doesn’t often come to mind when considering China’s key geopolitical partners in the MENA region… which is a mistake.
Morocco is now a major manufacturing hub for Chinese automakers whose vehicles and parts flow directly into the European market thanks, in part, to a free trade agreement. The Kingdom is also one of the few countries in the world to have a free trade pact with both the EU and the U.S., making it especially attractive for Chinese firms who may be looking to shift production out of China to avoid the anticipated tariffs that will be imposed by the incoming Trump administration.
François Conradie, lead political economist at Oxford Economics Africa, joins Eric and Géraud from Casablanca to discuss why the combination of Morocco’s strategic location and abundant resources is luring more Chinese engagement in the country.
Show Notes:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: Morocco, an Unexpected Winner of China’s Strategy to Circumvent the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act by C. Géraud Neema Byamungu
- The Wilson Center: China in the Maghreb: Threading the Needle of Algeria and Morocco by Steven Jackson
- Politico: China targets Morocco as launchpad into Europe’s green auto market by Antonia Zimmerman and Jordyn Dahl
About François Conradie:
François is the lead political economist. Apart from coordinating Oxford Economics Africa’s political coverage, he covers nine countries in North and West Africa on politics and undertakes thematic research.
