The World Bank has produced a timely and comprehensive assessment of the African continent’s trade prospects and challenges with Africa in the New Trade Environment: Market Access in Troubled Times. At a time when the African continent is blazing a new trail in global trade policy with the African Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA) and when other countries are evaluating their approach to trade policy vis-à-vis Africa, the book presents an invaluable economic lens through which to consider the possibility these approaches hold and the contradictions they present. The book also raises some very important questions in light of “[k]ey [c] hanges in the [t]rade [e]nvironment”, such as rising protectionism, regionalism, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will have significant implications for Africa’s trade potential now and in the future.
Cite as: Katrin Kuhlman, "Book Review: Africa in the New Trade Environment: Market Access in Troubled Times. Edited by Coulibaly Souleymane; Kassa Woubet; & Zeufack Albert G. World Bank Group, 2022. Pp. 361", Volume 3, AfJIEL (2022), 224-229.