There's an awful lot of people in Africa growing food who would disagree with that comment.
There are huge tariffs on food imports which coupled with huge subsidies for French farmers make it impossible to import food at reasonable prices.
The eu may eliminate some barriers between the 28 but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, the EU is protectionist.
Like most things to do with trade, Africa to EU trade is more complex than taking the tariffs at face value.
Its hard to find unbiased information about this because nearly all the search results discussing this issue are right wing think tanks.
Yes there are high tariffs on food imports, but mist African countries avoid these tariffs because of schemes put in place.
The EU is the most open market for African exports. Most African countries have fully free
access to the EU market. Other partners offer less favourable conditions for African exports.
Europe is by far Africa's largest export market and its main customer. Thanks to EU trade
openness, exports of food and manufactured products from Africa to the EU keep increasing.
Most African countries enjoy duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market. This is either thanks
to the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) or the Everything-But-Arms (EBA) scheme.
The EBA is a one-way EU measure to support trade-driven development of least developed countries,
while the Economic Partnership Agreements establish a long-term stable free access to EU market.
They are independent of future development status of participating countries, support their regional
integration ambitions and facilitate import of goods necessary for industrial development while
maintaining protection for sensitive African sectors.
https://trade.ec.europa.eu › tr...PDF
EU trade policy and Africa's exports