Tanger Med, a bridge that leans north

The Policy Center for the New South has just put into words what the figures were already saying. In a note published in July, the think tank describes Morocco as a “connector state”, able to capture the value chains that the fragmentation of world trade is redistributing. The argument rests on concrete facts: an automotive industry that exported 154 billion dirhams' worth of goods in 2025, a port platform connected to 180 ports worldwide, and regulatory alignment with the European Union. Mombasa and Lomé, the main hubs of East and West Africa, each top out at around 2 million containers.

But a bridge is judged by both its banks. Europe takes 71.4% of Moroccan exports; car sales fell by 2% last year, a reminder that dependence on a single market can weaken the local economy. The southern bank, meanwhile, remains largely untapped. Moroccan banks, present in more than twenty African countries, have shown the way; the African Continental Free Trade Area now provides the legal framework. The hardest part remains: moving goods and investment as fast as bank capital, and turning a national logistics success into a commercial lever for the whole continent.