The global backlash triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs is hitting Nigerian financial markets harder than many anticipated, setting off fresh volatility in both the currency and debt markets while exposing the deep vulnerabilities in Nigeria’s export structure.

By Monday morning, as trading opened across the globe, the tremors were already visible in Nigeria. The naira came under renewed pressure, weakening sharply even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tried to contain the situation with back-to-back dollar sales. In an early intervention that appeared coordinated and urgent, the CBN sold $124 million into the market at exchange rates ranging between N1,595 and N1,611 to the dollar. This followed a similar intervention of $197 million on Friday, taking the central bank’s total FX injection in just three trading sessions to a staggering $321 million.

However, the naira failed to hold its ground, a reflection of how thin liquidity and swelling demand are colliding with global uncertainty to overwhelm the central bank’s short-term defenses. Market participants reported heightened anxiety, with many buyers scrambling to cover obligations as rates rose further across multiple FX windows. The offshore market, which often signals broader investor sentiment, turned even more bearish, suggesting that local authorities may need more than cash to steady the tide.

While pressure on the naira has become a familiar storyline, the real shock came from the bond market. Prices of Nigeria’s Eurobonds plunged by as much as $5 on Monday, pushing yields as high as 12 percent.

Traders and analysts blamed the selloff not on any deterioration in Nigeria’s economic data, but on a sweeping wave of investor risk-aversion spurred by Trump’s revived trade-war rhetoric. The announcement of new U.S. tariffs, an across-the-board 10 percent levy on all imports, along with targeted hikes on Chinese and Mexican goods, sent global markets into freefall.

From Hong Kong to Frankfurt to Wall Street, investors dumped risk, triggering one of the worst global corrections since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong suffered a historic 13 percent plunge, the worst single-day loss this century. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 shed nearly 6 percent, while Germany’s DAX and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 were down 6.4 and 5.1 percent, respectively. In the U.S., futures tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell more than 3 percent each, pointing to a bruising open. For emerging markets like Nigeria, which are already contending with rising debt costs, currency instability, and weak investor confidence, the timing couldn’t be worse.

But beyond market gyrations, Nigeria is also coming to terms with the structural impact of the new tariffs on its trade relationship with the United States. In a statement released on Sunday, the Federal Government acknowledged the severity of the situation. Signed by the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the statement confirmed that the administration views the new tariff regime as a serious challenge, particularly for Nigeria’s nascent non-oil exports.

Dr. Oduwole pointed out that while crude oil continues to dominate Nigeria’s export profile to the U.S., making up more than 90 percent of the total trade value, the new tariff policy threatens to roll back gains made under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade preference program designed to support African countries by granting duty-free access for a wide range of goods.

Nigeria’s non-oil exports to the U.S., including fertilizers, urea, processed agricultural goods, and metals like lead, account for less than 5 percent of total trade, but have been crucial to the government’s diversification drive.

According to Dr. Oduwole, the Tinubu administration is treating the development with pragmatism rather than panic. She said government officials are exploring how to turn the disruption into an opportunity to rethink Nigeria’s place in global trade, expand partnerships beyond the West, and strengthen economic fundamentals to make exporters more competitive. The administration, she added, is “fully aware of the challenges but focused on long-term resilience rather than short-term fixes.”

However, economists say the pace and scale of the disruption far outstrip the government’s ability to respond in real-time. The immediate effects are already cascading through Nigeria’s trade corridors. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that had tailored their production to meet AGOA standards, the new tariffs amount to a sudden shutout from a market they had worked hard to access.

The frustration among exporters is growing. Many feel blindsided by a global decision made in Washington, which they say leaves them without recourse.

Even more concerning is Nigeria’s continued reliance on crude oil. Although the product remains largely shielded from the new tariff structure, that protection is far from permanent. If global crude oil prices fall, something that is not inconceivable amid slowing global demand and jittery markets, Nigeria’s already precarious fiscal position could become untenable. Oil revenues remain the mainstay of both government financing and foreign exchange inflows. Any sustained dip in crude prices would make it harder for Nigeria to service its rising external debts or fund its ambitious infrastructure plans.

Already, Nigeria is battling with the consequences of an ambitious budget predicated on external borrowing. With Eurobond yields surging, the cost of raising funds from the international market could rise beyond what is economically feasible, forcing the government to either shelve key projects or turn to more expensive domestic borrowing. Neither option is attractive.

As the pressure builds, market analysts warn that a more comprehensive policy response will be needed. While the CBN’s dollar sales are buying time, they are no substitute for a coordinated trade, fiscal, and industrial strategy that positions Nigeria to weather global headwinds.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who once backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic vision, has issued a scathing warning over the administration’s sweeping new tariff policy, calling it a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter” and accusing the president of destroying global confidence in the U.S. as a trading partner.

Trump’s latest executive order, signed Wednesday, slaps a flat 10 percent levy on all imports from over 180 countries, regardless of their economic standing or trade relationship with the United States. The blanket approach has jolted global financial markets, worsened recession fears, and sparked outrage not just from longtime critics, but from some of Trump’s most vocal supporters and economic allies.

Ackman took to social media platform X to express alarm, writing: “By placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike, and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner.”

The hedge fund manager, who previously applauded Trump’s America-first rhetoric, said the decision will end up hurting the very voters who helped bring Trump to power.

“The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for,” he said.

Ackman’s warning follows a brutal week for investors. The S&P 500 fell more than 9% last week, and J.P. Morgan hiked the probability of a U.S. and global recession to 60% by year-end, up from 40%.

“Business is a confidence game,” Ackman said. “The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe.”

No Diligence, No Discretion

Beyond the global market reaction, economists say the rollout was haphazard and lacked critical due diligence. In one striking example, the Trump administration imposed a 50 percent tariff, one of the highest levies in the package, on imports from Lesotho, a small, landlocked African nation where the average citizen earns less than $5 a day.

Lesotho exports about $237 million in goods to the U.S. annually, primarily diamonds and textiles. Yet it imports very little from the U.S., meaning that its citizens, already among the world’s poorest, will see their key exports taxed heavily with no real retaliatory capacity.

Supporters Now Sound the Alarm

The discontent isn’t just coming from elite financiers. Shay Boloor, a conservative financial commentator and host of Boys Invest, posted an open letter addressed to Trump on Sunday, expressing deep frustration over what he called the president’s “scattershot retaliation” and lack of a coherent economic strategy.

“We couldn’t keep pretending that a consumption-led economy held together by zero-interest rates and global fragility was a long-term solution,” Boloor wrote. “I welcomed the idea of a harder, smarter America-first policy that pushed for fair treatment, reciprocal agreements, and a real industrial strategy rooted in technological superiority, national security, and capital formation.”

“But that’s not what this is,” he said. “What you’ve rolled out isn’t detox — it’s whiplash.”

Boloor criticized the administration’s failure to produce a roadmap or operational framework, saying the policy appears to be improvised and reactionary.

“You can’t replace a fragile supply chain with chaos and call it resilience. You talk about bringing jobs home, but the U.S. doesn’t have the labor force, permitting structure, or wage flexibility to stand up full-scale manufacturing at speed.”

He warned that investors and CEOs are now more likely to hold off on major projects. “Capital isn’t going to rush to fill that void just because you raised tariffs,” he said. “It’s going to sit on the sidelines and preserve optionality.”

Boloor concluded by accusing the administration of launching a campaign of brute-force disruption with no viable alternatives in place. “And in the absence of credible structure, capital is retreating — not realigning.”

Lutnick Not Spared By Ackman

Ackman also leveled criticism at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, alleging a glaring conflict of interest.

“He profits when our economy implodes. It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income,” Ackman said, referencing Lutnick’s role at Cantor Fitzgerald. “It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest.”

Lutnick, appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation, defended the administration’s approach, insisting that reciprocal tariffs were necessary to rebalance decades of trade imbalances.

“We’re not backing down,” he said.

Trump Not Backing Down

Despite the growing opposition, Trump has remained defiant. The president, sources say, believes that the early signs of foreign capitulation are vindication enough. Vietnam and Taiwan have both agreed to zero tariffs on U.S. imports following the new policy rollout. India, too, has signaled its intention to lower tariffs to zero on a range of American goods.

These developments appear to have emboldened the Trump administration, which now believes that other nations, including EU member states, will be forced to follow suit. However, critics believe that Trump’s administration is conflating short-term diplomatic concessions with long-term economic stability, and confusing coercion for negotiation.