WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has explained why former U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs had little effect on Africa’s economy.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Okonjo-Iweala made this clarification during an interview at the World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
She noted that Africa’s trade relationship with the United States is relatively small, with only 6.5% of the continent’s exports heading to the U.S. and just 4.4% of its imports coming from there. Due to this limited trade volume, she emphasized that Trump’s tariffs had only a minimal impact on Africa’s economies.
“The trade volume between Africa and the U.S. is quite small. Our analysis shows that the continent as a whole was not significantly affected,” Okonjo-Iweala stated.
She stressed the importance of Africa becoming more self-reliant and less dependent on external trade and aid. Citing Lesotho as an example, she explained how the country, which exported $200 million worth of textiles to the U.S., faced difficulties due to the shrinking American market.
Okonjo-Iweala highlighted that Africa spends around $7 billion each year importing textiles and suggested that countries like Lesotho should pivot toward strengthening intra-African trade instead.
“We cannot grow our economies by focusing only on external trade, which accounts for just 3% of global trade, or even through internal trade, which makes up just 16 to 20%,” she said.
The former Nigerian Finance Minister also mentioned that Africa’s limited trade with the U.S. restricts the continent’s economic potential.
It’s worth recalling that on April 2, 2025, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on imports from several countries. However, a 90-day suspension of the tariffs was later declared on April 9.