Biting off more than you can chew? The African Continental Free Trade Area

The African Continental Free Trade Area promises to turn Africa's 1.4 billion people and $3.4 trillion economy into a single market, at a moment when US and Chinese trade rivalries make continental unity more urgent than ever.

Yet beneath the ambition lie three unresolved tensions – sovereignty, enforcement, and social inclusion – that could quietly stall the agreement long before it delivers on its promise: the AfCFTA might be too ambitious to be sustainable.