Trump's tariff impact on Africa and the ambiguous role of African agency

SUMMARY

The current debate on Trump’s tariffs focuses on the big global players and competitors of the USA. Africa plays virtually no role in international scholarly perceptions of the impact of US protective tariffs on imported steel, aluminium and cars. Nevertheless, there are such effects and these are more than peanuts, as will be shown in this Briefing.

Acknowledgements

This paper was originally submitted to ASAI V – the fifth conference of the Association for African Studies in Italy, PluralAfrica, at the University of Bologna, 5–7 September 2018.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Dirk Kohnert is Associated Expert at the Institute of African Affairs (IAA), German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany.

ORCID

Dirk Kohnert http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3921-1158

Notes

1 For example through the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Cotonou Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries with the European Union (EU), and the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with ACP regions.

2 See US Department of Commerce figures shown in Richter article and graphic, 24 May 2018, at: https://www.statista.com/chart/13248/us-import-partners-for-cars/.

3 See map of US imports of bauxite and aluminium by country (2004) at NationMaster website: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Economy/Trade/With-US/US-imports-of-bauxite-and-aluminum.