President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday reassured that his administration will remain resilient and has no fear of the trade policy direction of U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly tariffs targeting Nigerian exports.
Tinubu made the statement while receiving audience members of The Buhari Organisation led by former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Tanko Almakura, who paid him a solidarity visit at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The President said Nigeria’s current economic trajectory and growing non-oil revenues are buffers against external shocks.
“If non-oil revenue is growing, then we have no fear of whatever Trump is doing on the other side,” Tinubu said.
He stated that Nigeria has strengthened its fiscal position, having met its 2025 revenue target as of August, pointing a stabilisation in the naira, which has appreciated to around N1,450 per dollar from a previous rate of N1,900 after he unified the exchange rates upon assuming office in May 2023.
President Trump’s second term has witnessed sweeping changes to U.S. trade policy, including the imposition of a 10 per cent baseline tariff on nearly all imports, alongside country-specific levies.
In his Liberation Day trade policy announcements on April 2, 2025, the US president, Trump introduced unprecedented reciprocal tariffs under his “America First” agenda, aiming to rebalance trade deficits.
The policy included country-specific tariffs ranging from 11 per cent to 50 per cent on top of a 10 per cent baseline.
Nigeria now faces a 15 per cent tariff on its exports to the US, effective August 7, following an initial 14 per cent rate announced in April.
However, oil and gas export have been exempted from the new tariff regime.
Reports indicates that heightened trade tensions and tariff imposition have already dampened energy product exports globally in early 2025, disrupting demand flows for crude oil, gasoline, and diesel.
Tinubu referred to progress on his administration’s agricultural reform agenda, citing a massive mechanisation programme across regions.
“If we remove hunger, we have defeated poverty,” he said.
