The United States Trade Representative has announced a 12.5 per cent tariff on Nigerian imports — the highest rate among Nigeria
six sanctioned countries — after Nigeria failed to effectively prohibit goods produced with forced labour from entering its market.
Nigeria is taking the hardest hit in Washington’s latest trade crackdown.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced Thursday that Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and the United Kingdom would face new tariffs for failing to ban and enforce prohibitions on imports produced with forced labour. Nigeria draws the steepest penalty at 12.5 per cent — two and a half points above the 10 per cent applied to the other five countries.
As reported by Daily Post, USTR Jamieson Greer said the measures followed investigations into 60 economies, two rounds of public hearings, consultations with more than 45 governments and thousands of public submissions. “President Trump recognises that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labour from global supply chains. The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century… It’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Greer stated.
The action marks the Trump administration’s latest use of trade law to reshape global commerce following the US Supreme Court’s earlier decision to block sweeping tariffs pursued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The White House subsequently pivoted to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, imposing a universal 10 per cent tariff on all US imports for up to 150 days — later raised to 15 per cent — with that temporary measure due to expire Friday.
Nigeria’s 12.5 per cent rate takes effect as the administration’s broader tariff architecture continues to evolve.
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