An Analysis of the Impact of Trade Facilitation in Africa on China’s Manufacturing Exports—Evidence from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

China’s manufacturing exports to ECOWAS markets, especially in machinery, electronics, textiles, and automobiles have grown rapidly, yet the role of trade-facilitation reforms remains under-examined. Using a balanced panel of China’s annual exports to Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Senegal (2010-2020), we estimate a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood gravity model with country and year fixed effects. Key facilitation variables include Logistics Performance Index scores (customs and infrastructure), Doing Business “cost to import”, documentary requirements, and clearance times, alongside controls for importer GDP, GDP per capita, distance, and importer remoteness. Our results show that a 1% improvement in customs efficiency or transport quality raises exports by 1.25%, while a 1% increase in import costs reduces exports by 0.85%. Each additional document and day in import procedures lowers exports by 4% and 2%, respectively. These findings underscore that targeted investments in regulatory streamlining and logistics infrastructure are critical to deepening China-ECOWAS trade integration and informing Belt & Road and AfCFTA strategies.