The imposition of a 15% tariff by the United States on Ghanaian exports has drawn criticism from Afoase-Ayirebi MP, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who says the Mahama administration failed to avert the trade penalty.
Speaking in an interview with JoyNews on Friday, August 1, Mr Oppong Nkrumah lamented the lack of proactive high-level engagement that could have potentially shielded Ghana from the new American tariffs.
“So I think first it’s disappointing that despite all the signs being on the wall, we have ended up here where we now have a 15% tariff on Ghanaian exports to the US market,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated, expressing his dismay.
He further added, “And it’s more disappointing because we had earlier suggested that the president himself has to engage at the highest level. But this administration, unfortunately, is interested in a lot of PR settings.”
The new 15% ad valorem tariff on goods from Ghana, alongside several other nations including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, came into effect on August 1, 2025.
This sweeping measure, part of a revised Executive Order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 31, aims to address what the U.S. terms “persistent trade imbalances” and a lack of “reciprocal market access”.
The U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce are mandated to monitor compliance and may recommend further actions.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who also serves as the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, warned that the impact of these tariffs extends far beyond mere trade imbalances.
He highlighted a grave threat to Ghanaian jobs and livelihoods, emphasising the potential “value chain effect” of the new duties.
“You will also then begin to realise that the jobs that you know lead to that productivity will also now begin to dwindle. So it has a value chain effect, and it is important for the government to quickly pivot and look at where else they can find markets that are not less competitive so that the export earnings, the export volumes, the growth and the jobs that come out of those exports will not suffer inordinately,” he stressed.
Ghana’s primary exports to the US market include cocoa derivatives, garments and textiles, cashews, shea butter, and various agricultural products like yams.
In 2024, total goods trade between the United States and Ghana reached US$2.1 billion, with Ghanaian exports to the U.S. totalling US$1.2 billion.
The imposition of a 15% tariff could significantly erode the competitiveness of these products, leading to reduced demand from U.S. buyers and potentially forcing exporters to absorb losses to remain viable.
This could directly impact thousands of jobs in these sectors.
Beyond the direct impact on Ghana, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also voiced concerns about the broader global economic repercussions.
“If you look at the breadth of the tariffs across other countries, it could trigger another round of global inflationary pressures, which could then come back to haunt us,” he cautioned.
This suggests a potential for increased input costs for Ghanaian industries reliant on global supply chains, further exacerbating domestic inflation, which, despite recent declines, stood at 13.7% in June 2025.
The current 15% tariff is a significant shift from Ghana’s traditional duty-free access for many products under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is set to expire in September 2025.
While Ghana has been engaging the U.S. on AGOA’s renewal and broader trade relations, the tariff imposition signals a more protectionist stance from the U.S., necessitating an urgent re-evaluation of Ghana’s export diversification strategies, particularly leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
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