Zimbabwe’s President announced on Saturday that he would lift all tariffs on products imported from the United States, just a few days after US President Donald Trump imposed an 18 percent tariff on the southern African country.
The nation’s primary trading partners include the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and China. Its minimal exports to the US mainly consist of tobacco and sugar. According to US government data, the total trade of goods between the two nations reached $111.6 million in 2024.
“I will direct the Zimbabwean government to implement a suspension of all tariffs levied on goods originating from the United States,” President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a post on X.
He said 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. “
The connection between Zimbabwe and the US has been characterised by long-standing pressure campaigns aimed at former leader Robert Mugabe since the early 2000s.
Harare has consistently accused US sanctions of causing the severe economic crisis that the country has been experiencing for over two decades and has been turning away from the West, instead bolstering economic relations with the UAE and China.
Last year, Washington lifted the previous sanctions program but imposed targeted sanctions against Mnangagwa and other high-ranking officials in Zimbabwe’s government and ruling ZANU-PF party, citing instances of rights abuses and corruption.
At the time, Mnangagwa condemned the sanctions imposed by then-President Joe Biden as “illegal and unjustified.”
