When Xi Jinping, the skilled leader of China, returned from the 20 -top group in Brazil last November, he made a stopover in Casablanca, where he was greeted with dates and milk, the traditional welcome for honored guests and a meeting with Marocco crown prince.
The short visit was a sign of the growing economic ties between China and Morocco, the largest hub in automotive production in Africa and an increasingly crucial leadership for Chinese companies that wanted the rates for export to Europe.
In recent years, investment In Morocco of Chinese energy and electric vehicle and battery producers, explodes, with $ 10 billion Focused on that industry, according to an estimate. Dozens of Chinese companies involved in the car factories are set up in Morocco, including the battery maker Gotion Hightech.
The tree is a sign of the growing importance of countries such as Morocco, which has a free trade agreement with the European UnionThey serve as connecting nodes in a global trading system that is again around an obstacle course of high rates, trade restrictions and geopolitical rivalry.
The use of their status if low or no-tariff zones requires Connector countries To erase a narrow path, generate opportunities for trade, while the risk is minimized to alienate the West or China. But now that the government has Trump kicked the legs out From under the global trading system, that road has become much more precarious.
Chinese car manufacturers, who have risen many rivals in battery technology, automated driving and entertainments software, have large ambitions expand All over the world in Latin -America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Even before President Trump’s elections, the United States and Europe grew more about how their own electric vehicle industry would ever compete with Chinese companies selling cars at reduced prices. Last year, the BIDEN administration effectively blocked the Chinese EVs by giving a rate of 100 percent on them, and the European Union increased its rates Chinese electric vehicles Up to no less than 45 percent.
These kinds of trade sandfalls have been a blessing for countries such as Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Morocco, so that companies can bypass the import duties. In the case of Chinese manufacturers, Morocco is an excellent connector country for the European Union.
Beijing “wants to use the most important benefits of Morocco,” said Alexandre Kateban economist and founder of the Multipolarity reportA strategic advice platform.
At the door of Europe and Africa, Morocco has been building an ‘car industry’ ecosystem for 20 years, Mr Kateb said. The country has an advanced transport network with ports such as Tangier-Med and large reserves of phosphates, which are used in producing car batteries. The country has also moved quickly to switch to clean energy.
Morocco became the leading car exportor for the European Union in 2023, according to China, Japan and India, according to Auto World Journal.
The French car manufacturer RenaultSigned by lower labor and energy costs than in Europe, has been production than in the country 20 years. The car group StellantisThat Chrysler and Jeep owns, has been expanding its footprint in Morocco since 2019.
“For Chinese car manufacturersMorocco could now play the same role for Europe ” Mexico said for manufacturers who wanted to bypass the US rates, said Ahmed AboudouhAn Associate Fellow at the Midden -Oosten and Noord -Africa program in Chatham House.
But grinding tensions between China and the United States as well as China and Europe have created a difficult balance for Morocco, where economic and geopolitical concerns do not always coordinate. Washington has raised rates on China to 145 percent.
The Trump government could decide to put Morocco under pressure possible by threatening higher rates to take a front-to-use attitude.
Morocco “sees China as an important partner,” said Mr. Aboudouh, but it is “aware of the risk” that Mr. Trump can clamp to countries acting with China.
Chinese loans and investments through his Belt and Road Initiative have helped power The economic development of Morocco, Helps in building the infrastructure of the kingdom with projects such as a fast railway line, solar energy plants and a technical hub of $ 10 billion in Tanger. This year a Chinese company was chosen to provide steel For a planned gas pipeline of $ 26 billion between Nigeria and Morocco.
At the same time, the American strategic partnership is also a priority for Morocco, Mr. Aboudouh said. Morocco is involved in military exercises with the North Atlantic Convention Organization and is working with the United States on the fight against terrorism. Morocco would also like purchase American F-35 Stealth Fighter JetS. Morocco will not welcome China at the expense of the EU and the United States, “he said.
There is a priority for Morocco Western SaharaWhere it has been fighting an independence movement for control over the past 50 years. Mr. Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty About the region in 2020 in exchange for the normalizing relations of Morocco with Israel, and the government would not want to do anything to endanger that.
Morocco has one Free trade agreement With the United States for two decades. Mr. Trump, however, has subjected it to one 10 percent across the board rate that he imposed almost all imports. But Morocco is not threatened with the extra punishing tariff levels focused on countries such as Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand.
In the meantime, Chinese production continues to rise, something that could attract the attention of the Trump government. In January a Chinese manufacturer of the battery parts began to pump with components at a New joint venture in Jorf LasfarNear the Deepwater Commercial port of Morocco, part of a $ 2 billion deal signed in 2023.
In October the Chinese tire maker Sentury Sentury started in a new factory in Tangier Tech City, a zone that was planning to eventually house 200 Chinese companies.
And last summer, Gotion, the Chinese battery maker, announced plans to build a ‘gigafactory’ of $ 1.3 billion, the first in Africa. That investment could rise $ 6.5 billionAccording to the Moroccan government.
“Morocco has long been following a hedge strategy” between the United States and China, Mr. Aboudouh said in Chatham House. “The Biden administration showed them some tolerance” when it came to Chinese investments. But if this maneuvering space is tightened under the Trump administration: “I think they will show more caution.”
- Advertisement -
