The Impact of Non-Tariff Barriers at Kasumbalesa Border Post on Regional Trade

Kasumbalesa Border Post is one of Africa's busiest land borders, facilitating the movement of goods between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).It serves as a vital gateway for copper, cobalt, agricultural products, manufactured goods, and mining inputs moving between Southern and Central Africa.Despite tariff reductions under regional agreements, NTBs have emerged as the main hindrance to efficient trade.According to Daka (2025), clearance times at Kasumbalesa range between 72-120 hours compared to the SADC target of 6 hours, while informal trade exceeds USD 1.7 billion annually.These inefficiencies undermine the goals of regional economic integration and impede the potential benefits of AfCFTA. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTIntroduction to Non-Tariff Barriers and Regional Integration The removal of tariffs across African regional economic communities has been largely achieved, yet intra-African trade remains stubbornly low at 15-18 % of total trade (UNCTAD, 2024).Scholars and policymakers increasingly recognise that non-tariff barriers (NTBs) have replaced tariffs as the primary impediment to continental trade integration (Daka, 2025).NTBs encompass a wide array of policy measures and administrative practices-other than ordinary customs duties-that restrict trade by increasing transaction costs or creating uncertainty.At busy land borders such as Kasumbalesa, these barriers manifest in prolonged clearance times, duplicate inspections, unpredictable fees, corruption, and inadequate infrastructure.The Context of Kasumbalesa Border Post Located on the Zambia-DRC frontier, Kasumbalesa is one of Africa's most strategically important inland borders.It lies at the intersection of the North-South Corridor, Dar es Salaam Corridor, Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor, and the emerging Lobito Corridor.Daily truck traffic regularly exceeds 650-700 vehicles, far surpassing the original design capacity of under 200 trucks (Daka, 2025).The border facilitates the movement of copper and cobalt concentrates from the DRC Copperbelt and Katanga, agricultural commodities, manufactured consumer goods, and mining inputs in the opposite direction.Despite belonging to overlapping regional blocs (SADC, COMESA, TFTA, AfCFTA), Zambia and the DRC continue to apply divergent standards, procedures, and policy measures that generate significant friction.