The UN Commerce and Improvement company (UNCTAD) has urged the US to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest nations from reciprocal tariffs, warning that they might devastate susceptible economies whereas solely producing minimal income for Washington.
US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month introduced sweeping tariffs on 57 buying and selling companions — starting from 11% for Cameroon to 50% for Lesotho — however finally paused the duties for 90 days, besides within the case of China. The pause has left these states dealing with a ten% common levy that applies to nearly all international locations.
In a report printed on Monday, UNCTAD mentioned the “present 90-day pause provides an vital alternative to reassess how small and susceptible economies are handled beneath the coverage of reciprocal tariffs”.
“It is a vital second to contemplate exempting them from tariffs that provide little to no benefit for US commerce coverage whereas probably inflicting severe financial hurt overseas.”
UNCTAD mentioned 28 of the 57 nations focused by the tariffs face steep levies regardless of every accounting for lower than 0.1% of the US commerce deficit. These embody Laos, which is dealing with a 48% tariff; Myanmar, on 45% regardless of the latest earthquake; and Mauritius, on 40%.
If the reciprocal tariffs kick in once more, calls for for a lot of imported items within the US are prone to lower due to greater costs, in accordance with UNCTAD’s report.
For 36 of the 57 buying and selling companions listed, the reciprocal tariffs would generate lower than 1% of present US tariff revenues, it discovered.
“These economies are small in measurement, structurally weak with low buying energy, they provide restricted export market alternatives for the US,” UNCTAD’s report mentioned.
“Any commerce concessions they grant would imply little to the US, whereas probably decreasing their very own income assortment.”
The UN company additionally highlighted that a number of of those international locations export agricultural commodities that the US would not produce, for which there are few substitutes. Such merchandise embody vanilla from Madagascar and cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
In 2024, the US imported vanilla price roughly $150 million (€132 million) from Madagascar. Cocoa imports from Côte d’Ivoire have been price nearly $800 million (€704 million), whereas imports from Ghana have been valued at about $200 million (€176 million).
“Growing tariffs on such items, whereas producing some income, is prone to lead to greater costs for shoppers,” the UNCTAD report mentioned.
