Nigeria and a raft of African countries have been hit with a 15 percent import tariff following a sweeping executive order from United States President Donald Trump.
The White House announced the modified reciprocal tariff rates on Thursday.
Earlier in April, Trump had slammed sweeping tariffs on global trading partners, imposing 14 percent on Nigeria.
The “reciprocal” tariffs were later postponed for 90 days to allow for time to negotiate individual trade deals, with the deadline moved to August 1.
Despite these extensions, most talks failed to produce new agreements, triggering the rollout of increased tariffs under Trump’s revised global scheme.
In Africa, the US did not strike a single trade deal with any country, despite frantic efforts by several officials on either side of the divide.
As states tried to find their way around the taxes in that period, Trump imposed travel restrictions on several African nations.
Nigeria was not initially included, but was later added as the policy evolved.
Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, said West African nations intended to boost trade with the US but cited the travel restrictions as a barrier.
Below is how the revised taxes were spread.
10% – Falkland Islands, United Kingdom, and all other countries not listed in the executive order15% – Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Costa Rica, Côte d`Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe18% – Nicaragua19% – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines20% – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam25% – Brunei, India, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tunisia30% – Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, South Africa35% – Iraq, Serbia39% – Switzerland40% – Laos, Myanmar (Burma)41% – Syria
China — which has been locked in a protracted trade war with the US — is still in negotiations with the Trump presidency.
Canada faced a 35 percent tariff while Mexico was hit with a 25 percent fentanyl tariff, 25 percent cars tariff, and 50 percent tariff on steel, aluminium, and copper — all of which takes effect in 90 days.
Brazil was hit with a 10 percent tariff.
However, a separate 40 percent tariff was slammed on the South American nation on Thursday. This means it faces a new rate of 50 percent.
