ABIDJAN – As the United States imposes higher tariffs with global ramifications, African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has warned that these measures could trigger significant economic disruptions across Africa, affecting numerous nations and accelerating a strategic shift in global partnerships.
Despite the challenges, Adesina emphasized that Africa cannot afford a trade confrontation with the United States, noting that the continent accounts for only 1.2%, approximately $34 billion, of America’s global trade, with a trade surplus of just $7.2 billion.
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Adesina revealed that 47 of Africa’s 54 countries will be directly impacted by the new U.S. trade policies, with potential declines in export revenues and foreign exchange reserves.
Almost all African countries have been hit by higher tariffs announced by the Trump administration, with at least 22 nations facing up to a 50 % increase on almost all their products. Among the hardest-hit countries are Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Botswana, Angola, Algeria and South Africa.
Adesina proposed a pragmatic three-point strategy for the continent: engage the U.S. through flexible and constructive trade negotiations, diversify export markets to reduce dependency on any single partner, and accelerate the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation to unlock the potential $3.4 trillion market.
He stressed that Africa seeks balanced, transparent and mutually beneficial partnerships with all major global players, including the U.S., China, the European Union and the Gulf states.
“I think at the end of the day, we want to make sure that whatever deals that are being done with Africa are transparent, fair, equitable, and led by Africa and in Africa’s interests,” Adesina reiterated.
Is Africa Moving Beyond Foreign Aid?
Adesina, who concludes his second and final term as the bank’s president this September, rejected the long-standing paradigm of foreign aid dependency.
“The era of aid as we’ve known it is completely gone,” he declared, calling instead for bold investments in domestic resource mobilization, infrastructure and value-added industrialization.
Despite its challenges, Adesina believes Africa is the largest greenfield investment destination in the world, and it remains “the investor’s dream.”
“We got hydropower. We have a massive youth population that can become the labor force of the world. Sixty-five percent of the arable land left in the world to feed almost 9.5 billion people by 2050 is in Africa, so what Africa does with it will determine the future of food in the world,” he emphasized.
