China’s Xi lands in Cairo as Beijing pushes to convert its Africa tariff window into permanent FTAs

Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Cairo this week for his first state visit in a decade, part of a tour that also takes him to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan. The visit is expected to generate new investment and manufacturing MoUs, as Chinese investments are expected to rise by USD 4 bn this year, taking cumulative investment to USD 14 bn, the Egyptian-Chinese Business Council Deputy Chairman Mostafa Ibrahim tells EnterpriseAM.

The data center project is the wild card to watch: Huawei is looking to tie up a chip-and-data-center agreement to stock Egyptian facilities with its AI training and inference silicon, Bloomberg reports, and Washington is reportedly preparing a counter-offer. The precedent to watch: the UAE got fast-lane access to US AI chips and defense tech this summer after walking away from Huawei.

The regional picture: Beijing’s zero-tariff policy for 53 African nations took effect on 1 May and runs until 2028, designed as a fast-track to bilateral FTAs across the continent. Egypt is already using the window: Egyptian exporters signed 17 contracts worth USD 168 mn in the first three months. Morocco is Beijing’s other priority target, but Rabat is dragging its feet, as we've reported.

What to watch this week: The scale and sector mix of the investment agreements coming out of the visit — particularly any data center and manufacturing commitment that positions Egypt as a China-anchored production base for African and Arab markets –- and whether Cairo signals openness to the FTA conversation Rabat is stalling on.

Banque Misr in the crosshairs

The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed cutting Banque Misr’s UAE branches off from correspondent banking access to US institutions, alleging that the branch processed around USD 1.8 bn between January 2024 and June 2026 for 103 companies that it claims may be linked to Iranian shadow-banking networks.

The proposed sanction is limited to Banque Misr’s UAE branch and its USD transactions with correspondent banks, and doesn’t extend to its Egypt operations or other overseas branches, according to a statement from the Central Bank of Egypt. The Central Bank of the UAE will investigate the flagged period and companies, according to a statement carried by state news agency WAM.

IN CONTEXT- Banque Misr UAE is the first publicly announced financial-sector target of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “economic D-Day” campaign against Tehran, Operation Economic Outcast — a global drive to sever Iran’s financial connections by targeting the banks, facilitators, and networks Washington says help the regime evade sanctions and generate revenue.

Sign of the times

Will UAE capital return to Lebanon? The UAE sent its largest business delegation to Beirut in years this week, with Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi leading more than 70 executives and officials for a two-day visit that produced five MoUs, Lebanese daily L’Orient Le Jour reports.

What got signed: The launch of a Lebanese-Emirati Joint Business Council; two chamber-of-commerce tie-ups between Beirut and Mount Lebanon and counterparts in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah; and two Elite Agro pacts — one with the American University of Beirut on arid-climate food security research, one with Jarjoura Dakkache & Sons on greenhouse crops. Infrastructure and digitization were on the agenda but yielded no agreements.

Read the political subtext. Lebanese Economy Minister Amer Bisat drew applause when he cited reforms and “the exclusivity of arms in the hands of the state” — a nod to the Hezbollah-disarmament push the Lebanese government is working on under pressure from the US and Israel.

REMEMBER- The UAE isn’t moving in isolation. Saudi Arabia resumed Lebanese exports through the Al Masnaa border crossing last week and is building out a new border-crossing centre, after lifting a five-year ban on Lebanese imports in June at the request of President Joseph Aoun and PM Nawaf Salam.