Nigeria, Africa under pressure as Trump slams tariff on Canada, Mexico, China

NIGERIA and Africa are now facing the reality of imminent shocks to their external sector as President Donald Trump of United States (US) makes good his threats of tough tariff to various economies around the world.

This comes with retaliatory measures from the affected countries, sparking off a global trade war. The US government will tomorrow, commence implementation of its new tariff regime on imports from Mexico, Canada at the rate of 25% and also China an additional rate of 10%. Canada has already announced a retaliatory rate regime while Mexico said it was also planning to issue tariffs on the U.S. as well.

China said that it would challenge the tariffs through the World Trade Organization, according to Reuters, claiming that the move “seriously violates” WTO rules. The US Tariff order notes that should any of the three nations “retaliate against the United States” with “import duties” or “similar measures,” the president “may increase or expand in scope the duties imposed under this order to ensure the efficacy of this action.”

According to the White House, the salvo is aimed at curbing the flow of undocumented immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S.; spurring a resurgence in domestic manufacturing; and raising federal revenue. In a statement a posted to social media after the announcement, US President, Donald Trump, said the order was issued through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act “because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl.”

Canada’s President Trudeau announced that Canada would retaliate by placing 25% tariffs “against $155 billion worth of American goods,” with the first set of tariffs taking effect tomorrow also. He stated: “This will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days’ time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives,” Trudeau said. And in a statement posted to social media, Mexican President Claudia

Sheinbaum said she instructed her economic secretary to put together a response that included both retaliatory tariffs and other measures “in defense of Mexico’s interests.” “We categorically reject the defamatory claims made by the White House accusing the Government of Mexico of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any attempts to interfere in our territory,” Sheinbaum wrote. Nigeria, Africa For Nigeria and Africa the situation may become more dire as their economies lack internal dynamics to withstand the external pressures. They also have no room to retaliate.

The Nigerian economy is facing three major trade threats from the Trump trade policies. They include oil glutting by the Trump’s plan to expand domestic production of crude oil, a development which is expected to crash crude oil prices in the international market pushing Nigeria’s economy to tailspin as the economy remains oil dependent. In addition to oil glutting, President Trump last week also said the U.S. will impose tariffs on oil and gas imports.

“We’re going to put tariffs on oil and gas”, he told reporters in the Oval Office at the weekend. He said he’ll add tariffs on oil and gas imports around February 18, 2025 without citing specific countries. Mr. Trump on Friday also said the time for negotiation has passed, adding that all these tariffs will be stacked on top of any existing tariffs. The president also said he’ll impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as on copper eventually.

All the raw materials come from Nigeria and other third world countries.

AGOA, African shops eclipse

Trump’s trade policy is also expected to restrict the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) underwhich Nigeria and other African countries have exported their goods to USA at concessionary tariffs over the past 15 years. A renewal was due last year but couldn’t happen because of congressional hiccups and was shifted to this year. Unfortunately Trump has already indicated that he was not favorably disposed towards

Consequently, the window is effectively closed. With this comes the clamp down on a business category called “African Shops” in the USA said to be worth over $15 billion annual revenue. The shops trade and stock products from Africa, mainly agricultural food items with Nigeria accounting for the majority of the sources of the items in the shops across USA. For now Nigeria and other African countries have not figured out any response to these developments in the USA.