Approximately 60% of Tunisia’s trade is with the European Union, and Tunisia’s most significant free-trade agreement is its Association Agreement on industrial goods with the EU, formally ratified in 1996.  The free-trade zone with the EU was effectively implemented in 2008 after a gradual lowering of tariffs to zero over a 12-year period.  In late 2011, the EU announced it would pursue a “deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement” with Tunisia.  As of September 2023, there is not yet an agreement.

Tunisia has signed several agreements to facilitate trade and to guarantee investments and trade in goods.  The Agadir Agreement, a framework agreement with Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco signed in 2004, allows free trade among the signatory countries.  Tunisia has separate bilateral free-trade agreements with Algeria and Libya, but trade with Algeria is still low, while trade with Libya has dropped precipitously since 2011.  Algeria and Libya accounted for only 4.24% and 2.15% of Tunisia’s total trade, respectively, in 2022.  Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which consists of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.  Although mainly a political organization, the AMU nominally allows duty-free trade among members, but some barriers to trade remain.  In March 2019, Tunisia’s Parliament ratified the country’s official accession to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA, a joint free-trade area with 20 member states stretching from Libya to Swaziland).  In July 2020, Tunisia ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which is the largest free-trade area in the world in terms of the number of participating countries (54) and facilitates access to 1.2 billion consumers on the continent.  Moreover, Tunisia is seeking membership in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). 

Although Tunisia and Libya agreed in 2010 to remove all administrative and financial obstacles that hinder the movement of goods and people, both countries’ subsequent revolutions and unrest in Libya have disrupted progress.  However, with new signs of stabilization in Libya, discussions between Tunisian and Libyan business groups regarding new trade cooperation have increased.   In 2022, Tunisian exports to Libya increased by 36.5% compared to 2021, while imports from Libya increased by 162.3%.  Tunisia is a net importer of oil, and prior to the 2011 revolution, it sourced about 25% of its crude oil from Libya at a preferential price.