Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has attributed the Trump administration’s recent threat of tariff hikes against Nigeria to the country’s refusal to accept Venezuelan deportees from the United States.
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ program on Thursday, Tuggar asserted that Nigeria would “not cave in to pressure” from the Trump administration on this matter.
He explained that Nigeria, with its approximate population of 230 million citizens, already faces sufficient challenges and would not serve as a “dumping ground for Venezuelan prisoners” deported from the US as part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.
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The Minister’s comments follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement, made on the final day of the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro (July 6-7, 2025), to impose an extra 10 percent trade tariff on “anti-American” BRICS nations, including China, India, and Nigeria.
However, Tuggar suggested that the tariff threat might not be directly related to Nigeria’s participation in the BRICS summit.
“The issue of tariffs may not necessarily relate to our participation in the BRICS meeting. You also have to bear in mind that the US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Tuggar said.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”
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