US President Donald Trump has officially announced a sweeping new tariff regime aimed at revitalizing American manufacturing and penalizing countries with long-standing trade surpluses against the United States.
Speaking on Wednesday, Trump introduced what he called “red hot” tariffs during a press briefing at the White House, signaling a bold shift in the country’s international trade policy.
The new tariff structure includes a 10% baseline tariff on all imports into the U.S. from every country, with significantly higher rates imposed on nations that run trade surpluses with the U.S.
Among the hardest hit are some smaller countries, with goods from Lesotho facing a 50% tariff. The European Union is set to face 20%, while China will be hit with a 34% import tariff.
The preliminary list also includes several African countries, with the following rates:
Botswana – 37%
South Africa – 30%
Tunisia – 28%
Côte d’Ivoire – 21%
Egypt – 10%
Morocco – 10%
Though Nigeria and many other African nations are not on Trump’s supplementary list, the 10% baseline tariff still applies to all imports from these countries.
The move comes as part of Trump’s larger “America First” economic agenda, which aims to rebalance global trade in favor of U.S. interests and encourage companies to relocate manufacturing operations back to American soil.
In 2022, Nigeria ranked as the second-largest U.S. export destination in Sub-Saharan Africa, indicating the potential impact of these tariffs on bilateral trade.
Trump’s new tariff policy is expected to provoke a strong response from global trading partners, many of whom may impose retaliatory measures or seek trade exemptions in the coming weeks.
