<![CDATA[This paper investigates how the sharp escalation of United States tariff policy between 2025 and 2026 reshaped the trade diversification strategies of Sub-Saharan African economies, with Nigeria treated as the primary case. Adopting a qualitative, documentary-analysis design, the study traces three overlapping shocks: the collapse of the administration's tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) following the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling, the subsequent imposition of a Section 122 balance-of-payments surcharge, and the temporary lapse and retroactive renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Dependency theory, tariff-escalation theory, and Vinerian customs-union theory are combined into a single analytical frame, from which the paper argues that unilateral U.S. protectionism has simultaneously penalised African non-oil exporters and hastened a deliberate pivot toward continental integration. The evidence reviewed indicates that AGOA-eligible exports to the United States fell markedly during the lapse period, that tariff escalation continues to weigh more heavily on processed and semi-processed African goods than on raw commodities, and that African governments and regional institutions have responded with concrete measures, among them Nigeria's National Single Window, the Lobito Corridor rail investment, and the expanding Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). The paper concludes that continued reliance on non-reciprocal Western trade preferences leaves African economies structurally exposed to the vagaries of U.S. domestic politics and litigation, and that accelerating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) amounts to more than a development objective: it is also a hedge against external policy volatility.]]>
