The Trump administration has imposed the highest tariff—12.5%—on Angola among these countries. Last year, we exported $889 million worth of goods to the United States, mostly oil, but also minerals and machinery.
Angola is among the group of 60 countries whose products will face additional tariffs ranging from 10% to 12% imposed by the United States of America (USA), due to concerns that these countries are not taking sufficient measures to combat forced labor.
The measure, announced this week by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), is based on Section 301 of the Trade Act and aims to penalize countries for failing to monitor and ban goods produced using forced labor.
In the case of Angola, the new customs tariff will be 12.5% on products exported to the U.S., similar to what will happen with 44 other countries, such as Brazil, China, and India. Tariffs of 10% were imposed on Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The list of 60 nations accounts for approximately 99.4% of all U.S. imports.
The U.S. Department of Commerce states that the countries in question produce or import goods made using forced labor. The findings follow an investigation launched in March, which suggests that the 60 countries “have failed to impose a legal ban on the importation of goods produced wholly or partially with forced labor or to effectively enforce such a ban,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Commerce.
For U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the use of forced labor “creates a dynamic in which American workers are forced to compete globally under unequal conditions.”
Angola exports primarily oil and diamonds to the United States and has more recently begun exporting food and agricultural products.
The Trump administration had not announced new tariffs since February, when the Supreme Court ruled that the so-called “Liberation Day tariffs,” imposed on several countries in April 2025, were illegal.
Source: Expansão
