Cape Town — The U.S. administration eased its proposed tariffs on trade with several African countries, but charges of up to 30% will kick in on imports from four countries in the coming days.
The biggest beneficiary of the Trump administration's rethink of its policy since its initial announcement of new tariffs in April is Lesotho, on which it proposed the highest tariff in the world, of 50%. This has been cut to 15% - the level now imposed on most African nations affected.
But there is no relief, and even slight increases, in tariffs on three North African nations - Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia - and on South Africa, with which President Donald J. Trump has poor relations. They all face 30% tariffs, although the South African government says it is still awaiting a response to a range of proposals it has presented to Washington.
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Ghana and Uganda have been hit with 15% tariffs for the first time - they did not appear on the list the administration published in April.
The new tariffs were promulgated by President Donald J. Trump in an executive order published late on July 31.
slight increases for Nigeria, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and the DR Congo
Other major beneficiaries of the easing of tariffs to 15% are Madagascar (tariff drops from 47%), Mauritius (from 40%), Botswana (from 38%), and Angola (from 32%).
Imports from Namibia and Côte d'Ivoire, which faced tariffs of 21%, will now be levied at 15%. Also facing 15% levies are Zimbabwe (from 18%), Malawi and Zambia (from 17%), and Mozambique (from 16%).
But there are slight increases, to 15%, for Nigeria (formerly 14%), Chad and Equatorial Guinea (from 13%), Cameroon (from 12%), and the DR Congo (from 11%).
The full list of nations facing 15% levies: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d`Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
A White House fact sheet issued with the executive order noted that countries not named in the order will be subject to the "baseline" tariff of 10% which President Trump announced on April 2.
However, the order noted, without naming countries, that some trading partners "have agreed to, or are on the verge of concluding, meaningful trade and security agreements" with the U.S. Goods from these countries will be subject to the new tariffs until the agreements are finalised.
Note: The April proposed tariffs for Botswana and Cameroon recorded above are as announced publicly at the time. However the formal U.S. "Federal Register" records a one percent difference for each nation - that 37%, not 38%, was proposed for Botswana, and 11%, not 12% was proposed for Cameroon.
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