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WASHINGTON – New U.S. tariffs from President Donald Trump’s administration are impacting African economies. Nigeria faces a 14% tariff, South Africa 30%. African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwunmi Adesina has spoken out. His analysis, now central to discussions around Trump’s Africa Tariffs, calls for African nations to urgently rethink their trade strategies to counter potentially severe impacts.
Speaking forcefully on CNN, Adesina revealed that a staggering 47 out of 54 African nations will be directly hit. “Many of them will actually have a decline in their foreign reserves,” he warned. The consequences, he explained, could be dire: “Now, when that happens… domestic currencies are suddenly going to weaken.” This currency depreciation, Adesina cautioned, would inevitably fuel inflation and make it harder for nations to service their foreign currency debts.
Adesina on Trump’s Africa Tariffs: Diversification Key
Adesina outlined a clear path forward. He stressed the critical need for African countries to diversify export markets. He championed the full embrace of the $3.4 trillion African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a powerful tool to build internal economic strength and resilience.
“We need more trade with the United States, not less trade,” Adesina acknowledged. “But secondly… they have to diversify their export markets to reduce this kind of impact.” He pointed to Africa’s over-reliance on external trade as a key vulnerability. “We’re not actually trading more among ourselves. We’re trading more with external parties,” Adesina observed, urging a decisive shift towards robust internal African markets to better absorb global economic shocks, a central theme in his comments Trump’s Africa Tariffs.
Industrialization: Africa’s Path to Wealth
Despite significant global challenges like the Ukraine war and the lingering effects of the pandemic, Adesina maintained a note of optimism about the continent’s underlying dynamism. He reminded viewers that Africa is home to “10 of the 20 fastest growing economies” globally.
However, he passionately argued that true economic strength lies in transformation. Africa must urgently industrialize and move beyond the export of raw materials. “If export of raw materials is what we do, it’s a door to poverty,” Adesina asserted with conviction. “But when you export value added, you go on a highway to wealth.” The core message of Trump’s Africa Tariffs emphasizes this necessary shift.
His call to action was clear: invest in vital infrastructure, significantly boost domestic savings, and strategically leverage Africa’s vast population of 1.5 billion people. Adesina urged African leaders to proactively “tariff-proof” the continent through intelligent economic planning and dedicated industrial growth.
By Abdullah Korede
