The CDAA Free Trade Agreement provides either duty-free access to exporters in mauritius or a partial reduction in tariffs in other SADC member states, with the exception of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles. This gives mauritius exporters a preferential margin over imports from other third countries, such as China and India. The preferential margin is the difference between the normal right and the export duty under the CDAA. As a result, CDAA products have a competitive advantage. The CDAA`s Trade Protocol (2005), as amended, provides for the creation of a free trade area in the CDAA region by 2008, and its objectives are to further liberalize intra-regional trade in goods and services. Ensure efficient production contribute to improving the climate for domestic, cross-border and foreign investment; economic development, diversification and industrialization of the region. Improved merchandise trade opportunities: The EPA guarantees access to the EU market without tariffs or quotas for Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini. South Africa enjoys new market access under the EU-South Africa Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA), which currently governs trade relations with the EU until October 2016 (when the EPA came into force on an interim basis, which lifted the trade component of the TDCA). The new access includes better trading conditions, particularly in agriculture and fishing, including wine, sugar, fish products, flowers and fruit preserves. The EU will benefit from new valid access to the southern African customs union (whose products include wheat, barley, cheese, meat products and butter) and will have the security of a bilateral agreement with Mozambique, one of the region`s LDCs. On 10 June 2016, the EU signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the CDAA-EPA Group of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

Angola has the opportunity to join the agreement in the future. A free trade area in which Member States agree to remove tariffs against each other, while imposing their own external tariffs on third countries, promotes economic cooperation between Member States. A customs union adds a common external tariff for non-CDAA countries, with all EU members benefiting from this right. The CDAA is setting up a trade monitoring and compliance mechanism to monitor the implementation of the free trade area, with a specific mechanism for identifying and removing non-tariff barriers to trade. This mechanism has the potential to facilitate the movement of goods and strengthen trade. The CDAA promotes the following strategies to promote trade throughout southern Africa: trade is essential to a region`s economic development. However, it also has broader benefits that support the process of regional integration. Nations that expand trade with others by liberalizing trade policy increase economic growth and improve the quality of life of their people.

The CDAA Free Trade Area was reached in August 2008, when a phased tariff reduction programme, launched in 2001, achieved minimum conditions for the free trade area – 85% of intra-regional trade between partner countries did not achieve tariffs. The CDAA continues to work towards the effective implementation of the free trade area and to help member states begin trade negotiations and implement trade agreements. As part of its mission to strengthen trade between CDAA member states and external markets, the CDAA signed a trade protocol in 1996. In defining the CDAA`s trade policy, the protocol recognizes the importance of a liberalized trading environment for the economic development, diversification and industrialization of the region.