Dr Ismaila Ceesay, The Minister of information
By Fatou Sillah
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, The Gambia’s Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, has reassured the public that the 10% tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on the Gambia will not have a significant negative effect on the country’s economy. In a recent interview with Petter Gomez on Coffee Time, Dr. Ceesay emphasized that Gambia benefits from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a free trade agreement that allows Gambian goods to enter the U.S. duty-free.
“Gambia is a beneficiary of the AGOA. This is a free trade that carries Gambian goods to the US duty-free. Few countries are beneficiaries. Now because of this, current trade volume between the Gambia and the US based on statistics that we have is about 82 million dollars, not that much compared to other countries,” Dr. Ceesay explained.
He noted that there is a substantial trade imbalance between the two nations, with imports to the Gambia totaling $80 million and exports only reaching $2 million. This results in a trade deficit of nearly $78 million, with the U.S. maintaining a significant surplus.
“It means a trade surplus in favor of the US of over 78 million dollars. Now the 10% Reciprocal tariffs imposed on the Gambia doesn’t have any serious overall negative impact on trade between the US and the Gambia in so far as exports are concerned, but it will slightly affect those commodities that are exported to the US. Obviously, like I said, this is global; this is not only Gambia,” He Said
He also pointed out that many countries face much higher tariffs, with some experiencing rates of 38%, 34%, or even 40%, while others are subjected to tariffs as high as 54%.
“Some countries are even being given slaps with 38%, 34%, and some 40%. It’s a trade war. The highest is 54%. So it’s a trade war, and in fact it could go up to 100 plus. Yeah, because Trump is threatening China that if they reciprocate, he’s going to increase it again,” He Said.
Dr. Ceesay acknowledged that the ongoing trade conflict is having a widespread impact, including on global markets. “So it’s a trade war that is affecting the whole world, and it’s going to affect; it has affected markets around the world. The stock markets are crashing. It is going to affect the supply chains as well,” He Said.
Looking ahead, the Minister suggested that the Gambia should prepare for potential economic challenges stemming from a global recession. While the country is not immune to global economic trends, he reiterated that the tariff imposition would not lead to any significant negative effects on Gambia’s overall economic stability.
“So we don’t know. We need to brace ourselves for a global recession. So I think Gambia is not insular to the global economy, so this will affect the Gambia as well, but specifically when it comes to the bilateral trade, the US has a favorable trade surplus with the Gambia, and the 2 million that we export to the US with the imposition of these tariffs will negatively impact these sectors that the commodities that are exported to the US, but overall it won’t have any serious negative impact on our economy,” He Said.