Africa's most ambitious trade experiment — the African Continental Free Trade Area — spans 54 nations and 1.4 billion people, yet its deepest promises remain unrealized, not because tariffs stand in the way, but because the invisible architecture of commerce does. World Bank research spanning six decades of global trade agreements reveals that agreements built on enforceable rules, harmonized standards, and functioning dispute mechanisms generate trade gains more than three times greater than those that merely cut duties. For AfCFTA, the path from aspiration to transformation runs not through