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Saudi Arabia Seeks New Markets, Promising Investments in Africa

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Seeks New Markets, Promising Investments in Africa

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi underscored the Kingdom's readiness to support cooperative efforts to achieve economic and social development in Arab and African countries.

Speaking at the 3rd meeting of the Governance Council of the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program (Jusoor) in Cairo, Qasabi stressed that Vision 2030 seeks to open new markets and promising investments, drawing attention to the Kingdom's historical stances and confirming its interest in Africa.

He said Africa is rich in its natural and human resources and its prominent geographical location, making it suitable for investments, despite the challenges its countries face in infrastructure, environment, investment, and trade barriers.

Africa boasts about 60 percent of the world's minerals, allowing the Jusoor program an opportunity to identify and confront these challenges, work to open markets further, and exchange intra-trade between Arab and African countries, announced Qasabi.

He praised the initiative to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) led by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation of the Islamic Development Bank in partnership with the World Trade Organization and the African Economic Commission, citing other initiatives led by the institution.

Meanwhile, Gambian Trade Minister, Seedy Keita revealed that Riyadh and Banjul seek to sign new enhanced bilateral agreements in trade and human resources, focusing on agriculture, transport, and tourism.

Both sides want to sign an agreement to employ Gambian workers in the Saudi labor market, said Keita, stressing that his government had clearly announced its support for Saudi Arabia to host the Expo 2030.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat during his recent visit to Riyadh that the Saudi government enjoys solid diplomatic support from Gambia at all international forums.

Regarding his visit to Saudi Arabia, Keita explained that he is seeking to boost trade relations between the two countries.

Gambia's total imports from Saudi Arabia amounted to less than $500,000 annually, and the volume of exports is much less, said the minister, adding that his visit aims to increase the volume of trade, tourism, and human resources.

Keita believes that the two countries have a great political will to invest in their relations in various ways.

The minister concluded that AfCFTA is a massive opportunity for any form of investment in Gambia and will enable investors to access a regional market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.

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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.