Mauritius Rises as Africa’s 1 and Only Trade-Resilient Nation

Mauritius has been highlighted as the only African nation with a strong resilience to global trade shocks, according to a new report from CareEdge Global Ratings. The island nation joins a select group of countries, including China, Canada, and South Korea, in a category that recognises economies with the robust macroeconomic fundamentals to withstand global trade turbulence.

The findings were published this week in the “Global Trade Resilience Matrix: Assessing Countries’ Vulnerabilities and Buffers to Global Trade Shocks” report.

The report comes amid a backdrop of significant global trade disruption, largely driven by a new U.S. commercial strategy.

A New Era of Trade Tensions

The United States has implemented a policy of high tariffs on trade partners to address external imbalances, pushing its average effective tariff rate to 18.6% in early August 2025.

This is the highest level since the 1930s, according to the Yale Budget Lab. These tariffs are influencing trade and investment flows and weighing on worldwide economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) anticipates global growth will slow to 3% in 2025, down from 3.3% in 2024 and well below the pre-pandemic average of 3.7%.

In response to this climate, CareEdge Global created its analytical tool, the Global Trade Resilience Matrix.

The matrix evaluates the vulnerability of 38 countries to trade shocks and their ability to cope with them, sorting them into four distinct resilience profiles based on their vulnerability and economic buffers.

Mauritius and its Peers

Mauritius is in the “high commercial resilience” category, which includes 11 countries with moderate to high vulnerability but strong economic buffers.

Other nations in this group are Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Thailand.

While its high trade openness (105% of GDP) increases its vulnerability, Mauritius’s resilience is bolstered by its role as a regional financial hub.

The report notes that Mauritius faces a 15% tariff rate from the U.S., a moderate rate compared to others in its category, such as China (30%), India and Brazil (50%), and Canada (35%). Singapore has the lowest exposure at just 10%.

The report also identifies three other categories:

• Most Resilient Countries: Nine economies, including the UK, Germany, and Australia, that combine low to medium vulnerability with strong economic buffers.
• Moderate Resilience Countries: Eleven countries, such as Egypt, Morocco, and Spain, with low to medium vulnerability but limited capacity to absorb shocks.
• Least Resilient Countries: Seven economies, including South Africa, Botswana, and Malaysia, which are the most vulnerable to trade shocks with weak buffers.

Source: Defi Media