This paper examined the extent to which core principles governing trade in goods and services under the World Trade Organisation are being reshaped within the regional framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area. It undertook a comparative analysis of specific WTO principles- particularly those embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the General Agreement on Trade in Services—and their adaptation within the AfCFTA legal architecture. The paper focused on key regulatory areas including: non-discrimination; market access; transparency; and dispute settlement; interrogating both normative convergence and functional divergence. The paper argued that while the AfCFTA draws heavily from WTO rules, it simultaneously modifies these principles to accommodate Africa's developmental priorities, asymmetries in economic capacity, and the need for policy flexibility. In particular, the incorporation of special and differential treatment, phased liberalisation commitments, and a more cooperative dispute settlement approach reflects a deliberate departure from the stricter, rules-based orientation of the WTO system. Methodologically, the paper adopted a doctrinal and comparative legal analysis, supported by relevant jurisprudence and policy documents. It found that the AfCFTA does not merely replicate WTO disciplines but reinterprets them within a regional integration context aimed at fostering industrialisation and intra-African trade. The paper concluded that the AfCFTA represents an evolving model of trade governance that both complements and challenges the multilateral trading system. It highlighted the implications of this hybrid approach for the future of global trade regulation, particularly in redefining the balance between legal certainty and developmental flexibility.
African Trade (2026) studied this question.