“Customs duties are a sovereign act. [Trump] can do whatever he wants, even a 50% [raise]. It’s his business”, said the Algerian President on 18 July. [Getty]
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said he supports US President Donald Trump’s ‘sovereign’ decision to raise tariffs on Algerian exports, considering Washington’s move largely symbolic and with minimal impact on Algeria’s economy.
During a long-hour interview on Friday, Tebboune finally addressed Trump’s 9 July announcement of 30 percent tariffs on Algerian goods, part of a broader effort to reduce the United States’s trade deficit.
“Customs duties are a sovereign act. [Trump] can do whatever he wants, even a 50 percent [raise]. It’s his business”, Tebboune said in an interview aired on several Algerian TV channels on 18 July.
Similar tariffs have been levelled against several US trade partners in recent months, including Tunisia, which has yet to respond. Â Trump said the ‘liberation tariffs’ are a necessary correction of global trade imbalances.
For his part, the Algerian president stated that trade with the US accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of Algeria’s overall foreign trade. “We mostly export crude oil and rebar to the US. This tariff does not touch the core of our economy,” he added.
Washington’s decision follows a surge in Algerian gas exports to Europe, particularly Italy, in 2025, part of the country’s growing strategy to diversify its energy sector.
Algeria, historically an ally of Russia, has been actively seeking to diversify its foreign policy, seeking a more balanced approach between its military ties with Moscow and its growing engagement with Western powers like the EU and the US.
Still, the Algerian-American trade relationship remains marginal, and international analysts say the new tariffs are unlikely to alter Algeria’s economic course.
Most of Algeria’s exports to the US are in energy, which are exempt, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While the measure is expected to have little tangible impact on Algeria, Tebboune’s supportive reaction to Washington’s punitive tariffs was unusual, given the North African country’s traditionally defensive diplomacy.
Algiers also released in April a very muted statement when Trump recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, a position Algeria angrily opposed when declared by Paris last summer.
Safae El-Yaaqoubi, a political analyst specialising in US–Maghreb relations, told The New Arab that “the explanation lies in Algeria’s asymmetric perception of international power.”
“France and Spain are regional actors that Algeria feels it can confront without lasting cost. The US, however, is viewed as a system-shaping actor, one whose policy cannot be easily shifted by symbolic protests.”
In addition, Algerian officials remain wary of going tête-à -tête with Washington, as they face political pressure to normalise relations with Israel and the broader diplomatic cost of alienating the US.
Tebboune, for his part, insisted last week that he prefers not to meddle in issues that do not negatively affect his country.
“Our diplomatic relations with the US are good, and we discuss a lot of issues not necessarily in public,” he added.
