Several African nations are among the countries hit by sweeping tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on the US\u2019 global trading partners.<\/p>\n
Trump has announced a minimum of 10% tariff on all imports to the US and additional \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d for dozens of African countries, including 30% for South Africa.<\/p>\n
Other African countries hit with extra tariffs include 50% for Lesotho, 47% for Madagascar, 40% for Mauritius and 37% for Botswana.<\/p>\n
Nigerian exports were hit too \u2013 at 14%.<\/p>\n
Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Liberia were among those countries which will have to pay the baseline tariff of 10%.<\/p>\n
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs were \u201cfor countries that treat us badly\u201d.<\/p>\n
During Wednesday\u2019s announcement at the White House, the Republican president said that the US had been taken advantage of by \u201ccheaters\u201d and had been \u201cpillaged\u201d by foreigners.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it is not going to happen any more,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our declaration of economic independence,\u201d he added while holding up a chart showing a list of countries that charge higher tariffs on US goods, impose \u201cnon-tariff\u201d barriers to US trade or have otherwise acted in ways US officials feel undermine American economic goals.<\/p>\n
South Africa is included in the long list of countries dubbed the \u201cworst offenders\u201d, which also involve China, Japan and the European Union \u2013 that now face higher US rates \u2013 payback for unfair trade policies, Trump said.<\/p>\n
According to the list, South Africa charges 60% on US imports \u2013 although this is not just tariffs \u2013 and in turn, Trump said his country would implement a \u201cdiscounted\u201d 30% tariff on South Africa \u2013 one of Africa\u2019s biggest and most developed economies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have got some bad things going on in South Africa. You know, we are paying them billions of dollars, and we cut the funding because a lot of bad things are happening in South Africa,\u201d he said, before going on to name other countries.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the South African presidency condemned the new tariffs as \u201cpunitive\u201d, saying they could \u201cserve as a barrier to trade and shared prosperity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Madagascar, the African hit hardest by the new tariffs, charges US imports 93%, according to Trump\u2019s chart. Nigeria levies US imports 27%, Botswana 74%, Angola 63% and Namibia 42%.<\/p>\n
The White House released a list of roughly 100 countries and the tariff rates that the US would impose on what Trump dubbed \u201cliberation day\u201d for the American people.<\/p>\n
In addition, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all foreign-made automobiles, a move likely to drive up vehicle stocks in African countries which rely heavily on imports from Japan, Germany and China.<\/p>\n
The US is expected to start charging the 10% tariffs on 5 April, with the higher duties for certain nations starting on 9 April.<\/p>\n
African countries like South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya have long had open trade agreements with the US, and the new tariffs could significantly affect existing economic ties.<\/p>\n
The tariffs come as many African countries are already grappling with the effects of US foreign aid cuts, which provided health and humanitarian assistance to vulnerable countries.<\/p>\n
Trump announced the aid freeze on his first day in office in January as part of a review into the US government spending.<\/p>\n
US-South Africa relations have deteriorated sharply since Trump returned to power.<\/p>\n
Trump and his ally, South-Africa born Elon Musk, have singled out South Africa, in particular criticising it over its land reform policies that they say discriminate against white farmers.<\/p>\n
Economists say the new tariffs mark a clear departure from the more open trade policies that have previously defined US-Africa relations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Several African nations are among the countries hit by sweeping tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on the US\u2019 global trading partners. Trump has announced a minimum of 10% tariff on all imports to the US and additional \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d for dozens of African countries, including 30% for South Africa. Other African countries hit with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}