Assessing US-Africa Trade Relations: Implications of Trump’s ‘America first’ Trade Policy

The global trade ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation characterised by rising protectionism, disruption, and strategic realignment of global supply chains, as well as the weakening of multilateral institutions. Central to this policy shift is the resurgence of the United States “America First” trade policy advanced by the current U.S. administration. The April 2nd announcement by President Donald Trump saw every single country assigned a new, higher tariff rate, as every product imported into the U.S. will be charged an extra 10% tariff. While most of the U.S. trading partners will pay 10% tariffs, most countries were assigned even higher “reciprocal” rates. However, a dramatic change of policy occurred when the U.S. administration announced that countries that had not retaliated against the tariff would receive a reprieve and only face a blanket U.S. tariff of 10% until July 2025. These measures intensify Trump’s “America First” trade policy and signal a decisive shift toward deeper protectionism, reshoring, and economic nationalism