MW exports fell on US tarrifs

Exports of Malawi’s top commodities to the United States (US) fell following Washington’s announcement of new tariffs, impacting total export earnings and adding pressure to already tight trade position. Published World Bank data show that exports of tea dropped by 79 percent, those of cane sugar by 66 percent, and those of tobacco by 53 percent versus their monthly averages over the same months in 2022/24. Said the World Bank in its February Malawi Economic Monitor: “Export performance has further been impacted by the introduction of a 17 percent US tariff in April 2025, and the temporary expiry of African Growth and Opportunity Act [Agoa] preferences in September.

“Vulnerability to shifts in global trade policy is exacerbated by Malawi’s heavy reliance on a narrow range of agricultural exports. The US has historically been among the top five destinations for Malawi’s exports, accounting for about five percent of total exports.” While Malawi was slapped with a 17 percent tariff, an analysis by the Centre for Global Development, a Washington DC-based think tank, estimateed that potential effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Malawi could be significant, looking at the size of the US export market relative to total imports of tobacco, tea and sugar, which have tariff rate of 27 percent. Published Agoa data shows that as at 2022, of the $16.2 million (about K28 billion) generated from tobacco exports to the US, 95 percent of it was under Agoa and the rest under duty-free under normal tariff relations.

Similarly, tea, which generated $13.1 million (about K23 billion), was mostly exported duty-free, the same with sugar, which generated $10.4 million (about K18.2 billion). Tea Association of Malawi chairperson Sangwani Hara earlier observed that Malawi competes with other African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda for direct exports of tea to the US market, but the US tariff rates for those countries were pegged at 10 percent, putting Malawi at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, according to a Trade and Law Centre commentary, on February 3 2026, President Trump signed a short-term extension of Agoa into law, extending the Act to December 31 2026, and restoring limited non-reciprocal preferential market access to the US market for eligible Sub-Saharan African countries.

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Since Agoa’s inception in 2000, Malawi has exported goods worth over $1.55 billion (about K2.7 trillion) to the US market duty-free. Before the expiry of the trade pact in September 2025, Malawi exports to the US were duty-free.

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