Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The United States has imposed a 12.5 per cent tariff on imports from Nigeria as part of a sweeping new trade measure targeting countries it says have failed to effectively prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labour. The action, announced on Thursday, July 23, 2026, by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), affects 60 economies that Washington says have not “imposed and effectively enforced a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”. The tariffs, which take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 24, 2026, replace a temporary 10 per cent global duty imposed earlier by President Donald Trump that expires at midnight on Friday.
The 12.5 per cent tariff on Nigeria comes after a Section 301 investigation launched in May 2026 into the trade practices of major U.S. partners. The USTR said it received more than 1,600 written submissions, held public hearings involving over 100 witnesses and consulted more than 45 governments before announcing the tariffs. According to a Federal Register notice cited by the USTR, Nigeria would face a 12.5 per cent tariff on its products, except for items covered by specific exemptions. The exemptions include raw materials that could create domestic supply shortages, products unavailable in sufficient quantities in the United States and items that could disrupt the wider economy. The tariffs will not apply to oil and gas and fertiliser.
Under the new framework, countries that have already implemented, or committed to implementing, bans on imports linked to forced labour qualify for a lower 10 per cent tariff rate. Seventeen economies, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago, will face the lower rate. The USTR said these economies either impose a forced labour import prohibition, have committed to impose and enforce such a prohibition through an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, or have imposed a partial regime with the effect of preventing the importation of certain forced labour goods.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the action was aimed at encouraging trading partners to strengthen their own forced-labour rules. “President Trump recognises that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labour from global supply chains,” Greer said. “The United States has had a forced labour import ban for nearly a century and rigorously enforces it; it's well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” he added. He described the action as necessary to correct “what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere”. The U.S. stressed that the existence of national laws prohibiting forced labour has been insufficient to curb its use, arguing that trade creates incentives for the use of forced labour because goods produced with forced labour generate substantial sales, revenues and profits.
The investigation found that Nigeria’s “failure to impose and effectively enforce a forced labour import prohibition is unreasonable” and that this failure “burdens or restricts U.S. commerce”. The U.S. argued that eliminating forced labour is a “moral and economic imperative” and that “trade is a critical means to assist in that goal”. According to the International Labour Organization, as of 2021, 27.6 million people globally were forced to work against their will, with 86 per cent of forced labour occurring in the private economy.
The tariffs are the latest escalation in the global trade war reignited by President Trump since he returned to the White House in 2025. In April, Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on all imports, slamming 14 per cent on Nigeria. Later in August, Nigeria and a raft of African countries were hit with a 15 per cent import tariff. The latest measure followed the Supreme Court's decision to block the White House's attempt to impose sweeping global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Trump administration subsequently pivoted to the Trade Act of 1974, invoking Section 122 to impose a universal 10 per cent tariff on all imports for up to 150 days. The rate was later raised to 15 per cent, with the temporary measure due to expire on Friday.
Nigeria already has laws prohibiting forced and compulsory labour, including constitutional protections and anti-trafficking legislation, but enforcement remains a key issue in international assessments. The new U.S. tariff could add pressure on Nigerian exporters, depending on how broadly the exemptions are applied and which product categories are ultimately affected. Most of the countries affected have kicked against the new order, with Australia and Brazil describing the tariffs as unjustified, Norway saying there was “no basis” for them and the European Union saying Washington’s rationale did not make sense. China called the move “political manipulation”.
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