Business excited about impending Zim-China trade deal

INDUSTRY leaders want negotiations for a new trade agreement with China to cover crucial issues, including skills and technology transfer, value addition and beneficiation of minerals and agro-processing. These sentiments emerged during a private sector consultation on the Zimbabwe-China trade agreement in Bulawayo yesterday, organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the country’s most influential industrial lobby. Zimbabwe is negotiating and deepening trade agreements with China, with a focus on expanding trade, enhancing economic cooperation and creating frameworks for tariff reductions.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) is leading the consultations with the private sector to develop a national position on a proposed Framework Agreement and a “draft tariff offer” with China. Zimbabwe and China enjoy cordial socio-economic and political relations dating back to the period of Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence from Britain. Last year, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to an “ all-weather community with a shared future,” strengthening ties across political, economic, and security sectors. In 2025, Zimbabwe-China trade reached a record US$4,39 billion, with a US$720 million trade surplus in favour of Harare after exporting US$2,56 billion in goods (largely tobacco and minerals) and importing US$1,84 billion in machinery and technology.