Trump Imposes 15% Tariff on Nigeria and African Nations as Trade Negotiations Collapse
Story: Written by SpringnewsNG Media Limited
Washington, August 2, 2025 – United States President Donald Trump has officially imposed a 15 percent import tariff on goods from Nigeria and several other African countries, intensifying his aggressive trade policy after months of stalled negotiations.
The White House announced the revised reciprocal tariff rates on Thursday, July 31, confirming that the measure forms part of Trump’s sweeping executive order aimed at reshaping U.S. trade relations with multiple nations.
According to the updated order, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are among the African nations now facing a 15% tariff on goods entering the United States. Other countries affected include Afghanistan, Ecuador, Fiji, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Norway, New Zealand, South Korea, and Turkey, among others.
The new tariffs follow Trump’s April 2025 global trade directive, which initially imposed 14% tariffs on Nigerian exports to the U.S., with a 90-day window for negotiations. However, most talks failed to produce new trade agreements, triggering the automatic rollout of higher tariffs effective August 1, 2025.
Trade analysts note that no African country successfully reached a trade deal with the Trump administration, despite several attempts to avert the tariff hike. Nigerian officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar, had expressed interest in expanding U.S.-West Africa trade but cited Trump’s travel restrictions on African nations as a major setback.
The reciprocal tariff order also imposed varying rates on other countries, including:
- 10% – Falkland Islands, United Kingdom, and unspecified nations
- 18% – Nicaragua
- 19% – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines
- 20% – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam
- 25% – Brunei, India, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tunisia
- 30% – Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, South Africa
- 35% – Iraq, Serbia
- 39% – Switzerland
- 40% – Laos, Myanmar (Burma)
- 41% – Syria
The White House directive stated that the tariffs apply to goods entered for U.S. consumption from August 8, 2025, with exemptions for items already in transit before that date.
Trump’s latest move marks a significant escalation in his “America First” trade agenda, signaling continued pressure on countries that have yet to strike favorable trade deals with the United States.
