Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced on Saturday that the country will suspend all tariffs on goods imported from the United States, just days after US President Donald Trump levied 18 per cent tariffs against the southern African nation.
The mineral-rich country’s main trading partners are the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and China, and its limited exports to the US comprise mainly tobacco and sugar.
“I will direct the Zimbabwean government to implement a suspension of all tariffs levied on goods originating from the United States,” Mnangagwa said in a post on X.
This announcement was “intended to facilitate the expansion of American imports within the Zimbabwean market, while simultaneously promoting the growth of Zimbabwean exports destined for the United States,” he said.
The total goods trade between the two countries amounted to $111.6 million in 2024, according to US government data.
The relationship between Zimbabwe and the US has been marked by decades-long pressure campaigns against former ruler Robert Mugabe since the early 2000s.
Harare has regularly blamed US sanctions for the disastrous economic crisis that has afflicted the country for more than two decades, and has moved away from the West, strengthening economic ties with the UAE and China.
Washington last year abolished the former sanctions programme but imposed targeted sanctions on Mnangagwa and other senior leaders in Zimbabwe’s government and ZANU-PF ruling party, citing rights abuses and corruption.
Mnangagwa at the time said the sanctions imposed by then-President Joe Biden were “illegal and unjustified”.
Prominent journalist and activist Hopewell Chin’ono said Saturday’s announcement of the suspension of tariffs on US goods was a “knee-jerk reaction”, suggesting it could be an effort by Mnangagwa to get the sanctions removed.
“Acting unilaterally contradicts the principles of regional economic cooperation,” especially with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and risks “sidelining the interests” of Zimbabwe’s main trade partners, Chin’ono wrote on X.
“Does Zimbabwe even export enough to the US to justify trying to appease Trump’s administration in this way?,” he asked.
AFP
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