The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has raised concerns about the unintended consequences of the United States’ reciprocal tariffs on African exports, warning that the move could fuel cocoa smuggling from Côte d’Ivoire to Ghana.
Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest cocoa producer, with about $800 million in exports to the U.S.
According to the reciprocal tariffs announced by the Trump Administration, while Côte d’Ivoire was slapped with 21%, Ghana received the minimum and the baseline of 10%.
The higher tariffs imposed on the world’s largest producer of cocoa, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala explained, could result in economic distortion that encourages illegal cross-border trade.
She predicts that that situation might fuel the smuggling of Ivorian cocoa through Ghana to the US.
“Cote d’Ivoire is another example, the largest cocoa producer in the world with about $800 million in exports to the U.S. Cocoa is a crop that is not grown in the United States. With higher reciprocal tariffs than Ghana, this can render Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa vulnerable to smuggling to neighbouring Ghana, an unintended consequence,” she lamented in a news conference at Geneva, Switzerland.
The WTO boss made the remarks while commenting on the broader implications of America’s potential tariff changes on African economies. While Africa’s trade with the U.S. constitutes only a small fraction, Okonjo-Iweala emphasized that some countries, like Côte d’Ivoire and Lesotho, are disproportionately exposed due to their reliance on a few key exports.
She further noted that Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa-based economy is particularly vulnerable and could suffer severe setbacks if its goods become less competitive in the American market due to new tariffs.
With 32 of the world’s 44 least developed countries located in Africa, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala renewed her call for tariff exemptions for most African nations. However, she also used the moment to rally the continent around a bigger vision: “Africa is the future of global demand. By 2050, 25% of the world’s population will be in Africa. It’s time for the continent to embrace more self-reliance,” she said.
African nations, she says, must begin building stronger regional supply chains, investing in value addition, and fortifying intra-African trade to protect themselves from global economic shocks and policy shifts.
