By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Days after US President Donald Trump levied 18 percent tariffs against the southern African nation, Zimbabwe has announced the suspension of all levies on goods imported from the United States.
“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 on Saturday.
With the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and China as its main trading partners, the mineral-rich country exports limited items to the US, including tobacco and sugar.
The import tariff suspension is “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,” Mnangagwa stated.
According to US government data, total goods trade between the two countries in 2024 amounted to 111.6 million dollars.
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 economic crisis that has afflicted the country for more than two decades, and has shifted 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”.
AFP reports that 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 risked “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.
