United States President, Donald Trump, has declared that Nigeria will face an additional 10 per cent tariff for what he called its alignment with the “anti-American policies of BRICS.”

The announcement, made on Sunday through a post on Truth Social, adds a new layer of uncertainty to global trade dynamics.

“Any Country aligning itself with the anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday evening.

Trump did not specify which BRICS policies Nigeria was allegedly supporting.

His statement coincided with the ongoing BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On January 17, 2025, the Brazilian government officially announced Nigeria’s inclusion as a partner country of BRICS.

Nigeria now joins eight other nations—Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan—in this newly created partner-country category, which was established at the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024.

In a joint statement on Sunday, BRICS leaders appeared to criticize President Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, warning against “unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs.”

While not naming the U.S. directly, the bloc expressed “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures that distort trade and violate WTO rules,” cautioning that the “proliferation of trade-restrictive actions” could destabilize the global economy and deepen existing economic inequalities.