African countries face many trade barriers today. Wealthier countries subsidise their farmers, making African agricultural exports less competitive. Global trade rules promise extra support but are rarely implemented. Many African countries also lack the infrastructure, funding or political will to build industries. This leaves them stuck exporting raw materials instead of higher-value finished goods. They miss out on bigger economic gains.
The 14th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon from 25-27 March 2026 could be an opportunity to change this. Ministerial conferences are the highest decision making forums of the WTO. They’ve always been attended by the ministers of trade from countries around the world and are the place where decisions are taken that make a direct impact on the global economy.
However, the WTO is dysfunctional. It has not been able to get agreement on major issues for more than 15 years because the interests of its powerful members have often conflicted with the need for a fairer regime for all. At the last ministerial conference, in 2024, the WTO again postponed decisions on areas that matter to the developing world.
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We are international trade law researchers and argue that despite the problems in the WTO, this ministerial conference presents another opportunity for African leaders to strategically push the agenda of Africa’s developing countries. This is especially important in securing more favourable trade terms for developing countries in three areas: agriculture, e-commerce and green industrialisation.
These are just some of the very important trade areas where decisions are often postponed, leaving African countries in a dire situation.
Securing better terms for trade for developing countries
The WTO has a set of rules known as Special and Differential Treatment that aim to grant developing countries more favourable treatment, such as providing technical assistance and funding to help these countries to participate in global trade.
African countries’ development goals need a level playing field globally and the space to diversify industrialisation. Special and Differential Treatment is currently embedded in 157 WTO provisions.
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But so far, it’s failed to happen in practice. African countries and other developing countries have not received the support they were promised, because the special and differential treatment rules are too weak, too rigid, or not properly enforced.
For this to change, African countries must push for:
- funding, technical support and capacity-building through the Enhanced Integration Framework, a global programme which begins its third phase now, in March 2026
- concrete agreement on associated longstanding development concerns such as agriculture, e-commerce and developing green industries.
Agriculture
In our view, African countries should focus on development-oriented reform at the WTO meeting. This should be based on three priorities:
- Removing market entry barriers: In many developed countries, farmers are subsidised. This then lowers the cost of the agricultural products they produce, such as cotton, because they don’t have to cover all their own costs. This distorts the market because cotton produced by farmers in developing countries, who don’t get subsidies, is more expensive to buy. Developing countries have raised this problem at the WTO for some time. But it remains unresolved. West Africa, for example, is expected to account for about 16% of world cotton exports in 2024-2025, but isn’t earning as much as it could from cotton because it can’t compete with subsidised cotton companies from the developed world.
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- Using agriculture to industrialise: Africa currently accounts for only about 4% of global agricultural exports. It ranks as the lowest among world regions because of the challenges associated with trading in goods beyond primary commodities and unfair application of the trade rules. African countries mainly export agricultural products (cocoa, tea, fruits) and very few finished products that can be sold for a higher price.
To expand what they sell and build stronger industries, African countries need global trade rules that are fair, clear and don’t favour some countries over others.
- Strong food security policies: Trade ministers from the global south must push for climate change mitigation, to protect agriculture from extreme weather. Some governments purchase and stockpile food so that it can be distributed to people who need it when disaster strikes. This is not as effective as climate mitigation. It could also distort trade, especially when governments purchase from farmers at prices fixed by the government.
E-commerce
Many parts of Africa still lack reliable internet and digital infrastructure. This means the continent is missing out on opportunities to grow its economy.
E-commerce is digital trade, like online services, e-payments and apps. E-commerce earned Africa US$33 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to US$74 billion by 2040. If African countries expand access to fast, affordable internet, they could use these digital services to support industrial growth. E-commerce and broadband are also key to boosting trade within Africa, attracting investment and encouraging the safe use of new technologies.
Read more: Digital trade protocol for Africa: why it matters, what’s in it and what’s still missing
The African Continental Free Trade Area, a trade agreement that connects almost all African countries to create one big market, is promoting fair digital trade within Africa.
The WTO Ministerial Conference should make sure e-commerce rules help Africa grow by supporting small businesses to adopt digital trading. This will make payments easier, build trust for online trade, and boost Africa’s own digital trade plans.
Africa’s green industrialisation agenda
African countries need to continue to push for green industrialisation at this WTO meeting. Key to this are climate-related trade measures.
In particular, Africa must resist a single carbon pricing model. A carbon pricing model is an instrument that captures the external costs of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, when extreme weather damages crops, there is a cost. When heatwaves and drought cause illness, there is a healthcare cost. Carbon pricing ties these costs to their sources through a price, usually in the form of a price on the carbon dioxide emitted.
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But Africa shouldn’t be made to accept global carbon prices that treat all countries as if they are the same. Instead, carbon pricing must be gradual, fair and adapted to local African conditions.
It’s also important for Africa to connect its climate and sustainability goals to practical ways of funding green industry, like low-interest loans and special financing to help businesses switch to cleaner technologies. African countries cannot continue to export critical minerals like lithium, platinum and cobalt in raw and unprocessed form.
Read more: Trade can help poor countries cope with water shortages, and food security
Local processing factories should be set up and the products made there should be pushed into regional value chains. Trade-related climate measures like this, technology transfer and critical mineral supply chains are already a hot topic of discussion in the WTO. This meeting gives African countries an opportunity to lobby strongly for measures that favour locally processed goods.
Even though no broad agriculture package is currently expected at this WTO meeting, African countries should co-ordinate their lobbying so that they push clearly for trade rules that support industrialisation on the continent, and defend food security.
Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Associate Professor & Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law, Dalhousie University
Janet Macharia, Teaching Fellow & Coordinator, National Partnerships at the Strathmore Law School, Strathmore University