U.S. President Donald Trump has said his decision to impose an increased 14 per cent tariff on Nigeria’s exports to the United States stemmed from the country’s import restrictions on 25 American product categories, creating trade barriers between the two countries.

Mr Trump had last week announced ‘Liberation Day’ retaliatory tariffs on almost all countries, including a 14 per cent tariff on Nigeria. The Trump administration claimed that Nigeria maintains an average 27 per cent tariff against the U.S., which the politician tagged as ‘unfair dealing’.

In a fact sheet published on Monday by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as part of Mr Trump’s talking points on the controversial tariff policy, the Trump administration justified the newly imposed tariffs on Nigeria by pointing to a policy that prohibits the export of some products, including food and pharmaceutical goods, from the U.S. to Nigeria.

“Nigeria’s import ban on 25 different product categories impacts U.S. exporters, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods. Restrictions on items like beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and spirits limit U.S. market access and reduce export opportunities,” USTR explained.

The USTR added, “These policies create significant trade barriers that lead to lost revenue for U.S. businesses looking to expand in the Nigerian market.”

Mr Trump’s decision to impose tariffs targeting the majority of countries around the world has thrown the global economy into turmoil, with stock markets in the United States, China, the United Kingdom, India, and dozens of other nations recording significant falls on Monday.

The top 500 billionaires in the world lost a combined $208 billion in less than 24 hours following Mr Trump’s announcement, marking the fourth-largest one-day decline in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s 13-year history—and the largest since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, China and Canada have announced their own retaliatory measures against the U.S., with the former imposing a matching 34 per cent tariff on American products, as well as restrictions on the export of seven rare earth elements, pharmaceutical products, and food items to the United States.