African countries have gained an extra week to renegotiate trade terms with Washington, with new US tariffs – including steep hikes for South Africa and Algeria – now due to take effect on 7 August. The latest executive order signed by President Trump introduces a flat 15 percent tariff on most African exports to the United States, replacing a patchwork of earlier rates.
Most African countries will be hot with 15 percent tariffs, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Uganda and Botswana.
Some countries had previously benefited from duty-free access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), so the new 15 percent tariff represents a significant new cost for exporters.
In several cases, though, the 15 percent rate is lower than what Trump had threatened in April. Lesotho had faced a proposed 50 percent tariff, Madagascar 47, Botswana 37, Angola 32 and Zimbabwe 17.
In others, it is higher than what was floated earlier. The DRC and Cameroon had been told 11 percent, Nigeria 14.
A number of countries have already been hit hard by the shift in US trade policy. Lesotho, one of the most dependent on AGOA, was among the first to feel the impact.
Others, including South Africa and Algeria, had been facing proposed tariffs of 25 to 30 percent. They now have until 7 August to renegotiate.
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Tariff crises
Lesotho was among the first countries to feel the impact of the shift in US trade policy.
The small country of 2.3 million inhabitants within South Africa exported nearly $240 million worth of goods to the United States in 2024.
Concerned about the complete destabilisation of its textile sector and an imminent youth unemployment crisis, the country declared a state of emergency on 9 July.
Lesotho declares ‘state of disaster’ as it struggles with US policy changes
In Tunisia, a 25 percent tariff will take effect on 7 August.
The new rate is part of a wider wave of US import taxes affecting nearly 60 countries, but it is expected to hit Tunisia’s craft sector especially hard. The United States is the largest buyer of Tunisian handmade goods.
Karim Bairam, who cuts stones for mosaics at the National Office of Crafts in Tunis, said 80 percent of his work is exported, much of it to the United States. He told RFI he fears demand will fall, since customs and delivery costs are paid by customers.
With Tunisia’s economy already under pressure, the tariff increase has caused concern across the sector.
“The impact on the artisans we work with will inevitably be that there will be less production, the production volume will inevitably decrease a little if prices change,” said Kenza Fourati, co-founder of the brand Osay the Label, which sells traditional leather slippers.
South Africa punished
South Africa is among the few countries facing a 30 percent tariff, which comes on the back of harsh political criticism from Trump.
The US president and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement accuse the South African government of discrimination against white farmers.
South African authorities still have a week to avoid the worst tariffs, and the country will use the week-long delay in the imposition of 30 percent tariffs to negotiate hard to avoid the penalty and save jobs, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday.
“Within the window that’s still open, we’re hoping that we will find a way to settle this matter,” Ramaphosa told journalists.
“So intensive negotiations are now under way. Our task is to negotiate as strongly and as hard as we can with the United States,” he said. “Our objective, really, is to save jobs.”
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Algeria and Algeria also face a 30 percent tariff, the same rate Trump had imposed on Algeria in April.
Trump warned in July that he would place an additional 10 percent tariff on any country aligning itself with BRICS, referencing the bloc’s “Anti-American policies” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
US-Algeria trade amounted to an estimated $3.5 billion in 2024 and the United States ran a $1.4 billion trade deficit with the country, down 20.9 percent from the 2023 deficit, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.
Algeria’s exports to the United States are mostly oil.
US-Libya trade was estimated at $2.0 billion in 2024, with an $898.3 million US goods trade deficit. The deficit fell 17.6 percent from 2023, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.
Nearly all of Libya’s $1.57 billion in exports to the United States in 2023 consisted of crude petroleum.
