The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has warned that Africa cannot afford a trade confrontation with the United States, amid recent tariff announcements.
Recall that in April, President Donald Trump announced some base tariffs and some reciprocal tariffs on trade partners. Although the tariffs were suspended for 90-days, many are looking ahead to the deadline.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mr Adesina revealed that 47 of Africa’s 54 countries would be impacted directly by the new US trade policies, with potential declines in export revenues and foreign exchange reserves, noting that the continent accounts for only 1.2 per cent (approximately $34 billion) of America’s global trade—with a trade surplus of just $7.2 billion.
He warned that the measure could trigger significant economic disruptions across Africa, affecting numerous nations and accelerating a strategic shift in global partnerships.
“When those currencies weaken, two things will happen: first, you will find that most of these countries are import-dependent. So, you’re going to find that high inflation becomes a problem,” said Mr Adesina.
“Secondly, you find that the cost of actually servicing a lot of their debt, which is foreign currency debt, but in local currencies, is going to get worse.”
Business Post reports that almost all African countries have been hit by higher tariffs announced by the Trump administration, with at least 22 nations facing up to a whopping 50 per cent for almost all their products.
Among the hardest hit countries are Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Botswana, Angola, Algeria, and South Africa. Nigeria was hit with a 14 per cent rate.
The impacts of these higher tariffs are further exacerbated by significant cuts to USAID programs, which have already begun affecting access to essential medical supplies and humanitarian services in many countries, raising serious concerns about the future trajectory of US-Africa relations.
Providing some solutions, Mr Adesina proposed a pragmatic three-point strategy for the continent: Engage the US through flexible and constructive trade negotiations, diversify export markets to reduce dependency on any single partner, and accelerate the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation to unlock the potential $3.4 trillion market.
He stressed the need to expand Africa’s domestic market and boost domestic savings to develop consumption as a bigger share of its GDP, leveraging its massive population growth.
The Nigerian added that more importantly, the continent must take advantage of the increasing external interest in its natural resources, such as cobalt and lithium, to negotiate a better trade and investment deal.
Addressing speculation that Africa may shift more decisively toward China in response to the higher US tariffs, Mr Adesina dismissed any notion of binary alignment.
“US is a key ally of Africa—and so is China,” he stated. “Africa is building bridges, not isolating itself.”
“I think at the end of the day, we want to make sure that whatever deals that are being done with Africa are transparent, fair, equitable, and led by Africa and in Africa’s interests,” Mr Adesina reiterated.
Mr Adesina, who concludes his second and final term as president of the bank in September, firmly rejected the long-standing paradigm of foreign aid dependency.
“The era of aid as we’ve known it is completely gone,” he declared, calling instead for bold investments in domestic resource mobilization, infrastructure, and value-added industrialization.
He said aid must be turned into concessional financing to allow multilateral financial institutions to do more for the continent by mobilizing more private capital to develop and derisk projects.