Ghana and US maintain cordial relations despite tariff imposition, visa restriction – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says Ghana still enjoys a good diplomatic relations with the United States of America despite a recent imposition of tariffs on trade and visa restrictions.

The US imposed a 15 per cent tariff on goods exported from Ghana to the US, effective August 7, 2025.

It also imposed a visa restrictions on Ghana over what it said were concerns about visa overstays.

Speaking at his first media engagement in Accra on Wednesday, President Mahama said although these events had ‘strained’ the relationship between the two countries, they maintained a cordial relationship.

“First, we were slapped with a 10 per cent tariff that was increased to 15 per cent. And then we were included in 36 countries that were going to be placed on a visa ban, but in the meantime, all five-year visas were cancelled, and we were restricted to single-entry, three months.

“It shows the tightening situation in our foreign relations but, I do think that we still enjoy good relations with the United States of America,” President Mahama said.

For instance, he indicated that, early this year, the US government approached Ghana to accept third party nationals who were facing deportation from the US.

Upon consideration, he said, Ghana decided to take in only West African nationals due to the visa-free entries for all West African nationals.

“A first batch of 14 nationals came, several of them were our Nigeria brothers. They opted to go back home and so we facilitated (put them on buses) to be able to go back home,” he said.

He added that: “One of them was a Gambian who it is not as easy, maybe, you have to get him an air ticket to be able to facilitate his travels, so what we have done is contacted their embassy to let them know of his presence so that they can facilitate his return to Gambia.”

President Mahama, however, expressed concerns about the US decision to unilaterally alter global trade system, indicating that while the situation may be beneficial to the US in the short term, it would have a significant impact on global trade in the long term.

“Nobody wins tariff wars,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that America had upended the whole world trade system. We all worked towards a rules-based trading system. It took years of negotiations, from Rio to Doha, and all that and eventually reasonable tariffs were agreed between countries,” he bemoaned.

Going forward, President Mahama said Ghana would explore other markets such as China, which offered favourable trading conditions, to boost its export sector.

“China, with zero tariff, it is an incentive for us to export into the Chinese market and we need to look at the items that China imports and see where we have comparative advantage to be able to take up those imports,” President Mahama said.

Source: GNA

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