Nigeria’s “struggling” economy is expected to see another major downturn if US President Donald Trump fulfils his promise to impose further trade tariffs on BRICS nations.
The nations that make up the BRICS bloc are South Africa, China, India, Russia, and Brazil.
If enacted, the increased tax would essentially raise Nigeria’s import charges to the United States to 24 percent. The 14 percent levy was criticised when Trump first announced the policy on April 2, during what he called “Liberation Day.”
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However, experts have stated that the country’s export diversification drive could be slowed down by the additional 10% duty.
The new threat follows criticism of the import taxes by BRICS leaders, who called them indiscriminate during the just ended conference in Brazil.
Recall that Trump launched a trade war with its major trading partners, particularly China, on April 2 by announcing a comprehensive package of import duties that included raising the duties for a number of partners he characterised as bad actors and imposing a baseline tariff of 10% on 185 countries, including Nigeria.
While announcing the tariffs, Trump said he could have gone higher by imposing higher tariffs to match what each country charges to US.
Additionally, Trump threatened to levy unilateral taxes on allies unless they made “deals” by August 1.
However, in response to the emergence of unilateral tariff measures, BRICS members condemned the imposition on Sunday, stating that it was unlawful, capricious, and may potentially harm the world economy.
In response, Trump attacked the 11 BRICS countries and threatened to levy an additional 10% tariff on them.
“Any country aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an additional 10 per cent tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday.
