By Nkiruka Nnorom
Nigeria and seven other African countries risk losing wider access to the American market as the United States moves to slap a 12.5 per cent tariff on their exports over alleged failure to curb forced labour in supply chains.
The proposal was unveiled by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, USTR, as part of a sweeping probe covering 60 economies worldwide.
Aside from Nigeria, the African countries listed are Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and South Africa.
USTR said the affected nations had not put in place or enforced measures strong enough to block goods made with forced labour from entering their markets.
If approved, the penalty would be added to the 10 per cent baseline tariff already imposed under President Donald Trump’s reciprocal trade framework and would effectively raise U.S tariff on Nigeria to 27.5 per cent.
Unlike that broad measure aimed at correcting trade imbalances, the new tariff is targeted specifically at labour-related practices.
According to USTR, countries that fail to stop the import of goods produced with forced labour gain an unfair edge by allowing cheaper products to flood global supply chains and argued that this distorts competition and undermines American workers and businesses.
The agency added that the lapse burdened and restricted U.S commerce by exposing American producers to unfair competition, both in the U.S and abroad, while also diverting goods made without forced labour out of foreign markets and into America.
“The measure is about levelling the playing field,” USTR said in a statement, adding that only economies with credible legal and enforcement frameworks to keep such goods out would be spared.
“Today, the United States Trade Representative determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the acts, policies and practices of 60 economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, and are thus actionable under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act,” the agency said in the statement.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” said the Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
“We will no longer tolerate this disparity. Some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of forced labor goods, including through USMCA and commitments in Agreements on Reciprocal Trade. However, each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally,” he added.
The proposal is still under review and has not taken effect.
The development comes at a time Washington is tightening scrutiny on trade and immigration links with Africa, as part of what officials describe as a shift to “interest-driven” engagement.
