The authors predict that the Continental Customs Union (CCU) will injure some infant industries in smaller Member States and that, if not properly designed, the small States which have wholeheartedly embraced the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement may actually hold little. The AfCFTA Agreement alludes to the CCU but does not specifically provide for it. Moreover, the AfCFTA provisions on infant-industry protection (IIP) remain hopelessly vague. But, if the experience with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is anything to go by, the CCU will end up hurting some infant industries in the CCU territory. The authors’ prediction does not imply that AU Member States should not join the CCU. On the contrary, evidence from SACU shows that this customs union represents the largest source of income for most of its members. However, just like SACU, the CCU – a form of neoliberal economic integration – subverts self-centred development by stopping local industries from growing or emerging in the first place. Tentatively, this article recommends that customs unions Member States share skills, knowledge and technology if they want to avoid the moral hazard problem that IIP carries with it.

Keywords: African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), (African) Continental Customs Union, small states, injury, protection of infant industries, Southern African Customs Union (SACU), selfcentred development, neoliberal economic integration