Why Trump’s tariffs have minimal impact on Africa – WTO DG, Okonjo-Iweala

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has explained why the United States of America’s President Donald Trump’s tariffs would have only a minimum impact on Africa.

According to NAN, Okonjo-Iweala made the remark during an interview at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

According to her, only 6.5 percent of Africa’s exports go to the US, while 4.4 percent of the continent’s imports come from the US. This means that the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the continent has been minimal.

The trade of the continent is very limited with the USA. We have done the analysis, and the impact on the continent as a whole is not significant,” she said.

She urged that Africa should be self-reliant and not dependent on foreign aid and trade, citing Lesotho as an example.

Okonjo-Iweala explained that Lesotho exported 200 million dollars’ worth of textiles to the US; the country faced challenges due to the shrinking US market.

Okonjo-Iweala said that Africa spent 7 billion dollars annually on importing textiles, suggesting that Lesotho should focus on intra-continental trade.

“We cannot trade more externally, where our trade is only 3 percent of world trade, or internally, where intra-Africa trade is 16 to 20 percent at most,” she said.

Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian Finance Minister, noted that Africa’s limited trade with the USA was also not ideal, as it hindered economic growth.

Recall that the president of America, Donald Trump, on April 2, 2025, announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on countries across the world before he announced a 90-day reciprocal tariff pause on April 9.