Chinese EVs in Morocco - a work-around EU & US sanctions?, CCP official visits Tunisia, Chinese garment factory investment in Egypt, Xi's congratulatory message to Arab League Summit.

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China’s Backdoor: How Morocco Became Key in the Battery Trade War - Morocco World News. This article is based on a recent paper published by Transnational Institute (TNI), written by Moroccan researcher Ali Amouzai. He brings up a point that I’ve written about as well - Morocco’s FTAs with the US and EU might have more explanatory value in China’s entry into Morocco’s auto industry than getting access to an up-and-coming market. I’ve spoken with experts in Europe about this and they claimed that that particular hole had been filled, that Chinese EVs weren’t using production in Morocco and Turkey to work around sanctions. This report thinks otherwise. It’s worth a deeper dive, I think. You can access Amouzai’s report here.

Amouzai explains that these investments are part of China’s strategy to circumvent trade restrictions. “The US–China trade war and the resulting geopolitical tensions, especially after Joe Biden’s announcement of the Inflation Reduction Act, have left China in need of countries with open access to the US market, which means countries that have a free trade agreement with the US,” he notes.

Morocco, with its free trade agreement with the United States, provides Chinese manufacturers a way to qualify for subsidies of up to $7,500 under the US Inflation Reduction Act. This represents what industry experts call “friends-shoring” – sourcing minerals from mines and supply chains developed in countries with free trade agreements.

Tunisian president meets with senior Chinese official - People’s Daily. Until the CASCF last May there wasn’t much reason to watch China-Tunisia relations; there wasn’t much to see. But President Kais Saied went to Beijing for the Forum and included a state visit in the itinerary, and Tunisia got a strategic partnership agreement. Since then they’ve been building up the relationship, but from an admittedly modest level. This is consistent with a bigger role for China in North Africa in general, which I’ve been writing about for a while now - see this piece for Atlantic Council.

This visit from Li is interesting in that I’ve been seeing more frequent trips like this from Chinese officials.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has met here with Li Shulei, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, who led a CPC delegation on a visit to Tunisia from Wednesday to Saturday.

During the meeting on Thursday, Li first conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping's cordial greetings to Saied and recalled that in May 2024, the two heads of state jointly announced the establishment of the China-Tunisia strategic partnership, drawing a new blueprint for the development of bilateral relations.

He highlighted that China stands ready to work with Tunisia to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders, carry forward the traditional friendship, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen exchanges of experience in governance and administration, and promote the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road for more mutually beneficial results.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with Tunisia in cultural, academic, tourism, media, and other fields, enhance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, closely coordinate and cooperate in international and regional affairs, and promote the steady and long-term development of bilateral ties, Li added.

Saied, for his part, asked Li to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to Xi, saying that Tunisia attaches great importance to developing relations with China. He also spoke highly of China's development achievements and its critical role in international affairs, thanking China for its support in Tunisia's economic and social development.

The president emphasized that Tunisia adheres to the one-China principle and supports China's efforts to achieve national reunification and safeguard its core interests.

He said Tunisia is willing to deepen the alignment of its development strategies with China, and strengthen cooperation in various fields such as economy and trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, health, and infrastructure construction.

During his visit, Li also met with Tunisian Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri, Parliamentary Speaker Ibrahim Bouderbala, and President of the National Council of Regions and Districts Imed Darbali.

Egypt's SCZone, China's GS Global Sourcing to establish $15 mn garment factory - Ahram. Another Chinese investment into the SCZone.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and the Chinese company GS Global Sourcing signed a contract on Sunday allowing the company to invest $15 million in establishing a ready-made garment factory within the Qantara West Industrial Zone.

The new factory, spanning 27,000 square metres, will create approximately 2,000 direct job opportunities.

According to a SCZone statement, the project aims to produce over 12 million ready-made garments annually, and the factory's entire production will be exported.

"This contract brings the total contracted investments in the Qantara West Industrial Zone to $579.5 million and provides over 27,300 direct job opportunities through 19 projects," SCZone Chairman Walid Gamal El-Din said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

Xi extends congratulations to 34th Arab League Summit - China Daily. Mostly typical win-win/shared destiny stuff in here, but something new, for me at least: next China-Arab States Summit will be in China again.

Xi said he and Arab leaders agreed to commit efforts to build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era at the initial China-Arab States Summit in December 2022, and he believes that the second summit to be held in China in 2026 will mark another significant milestone in the history of China-Arab ties.