U.S. Africa Command convened officials in Washington on Oct. 29 to discuss linking commercial diplomacy with security policy across Africa, while an existing U.S.-Nigeria partnership offers one channel for trade talks.
The command’s published account of the meeting announced no Nigeria-specific measure, including a trade concession or financed project. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank W. Garcia Jr. said the approach must offer “a good deal for our African partners.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative estimates that bilateral goods and services trade totaled $14.7 billion in 2025, up 13.3% from 2024. U.S. goods exports to Nigeria were $6.8 billion against $5.0 billion in imports, producing a $1.8 billion U.S. goods trade surplus.
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment signed the U.S.-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Partnership in July 2024. It covers agriculture, the digital economy and infrastructure. Nigeria’s ministry said the partnership’s working group forum held its inaugural session in Abuja on June 24, 2025, to identify obstacles to trade and investment.
The ministry presented investment and employment as goals of the partnership. It also said in April 2025 that crude petroleum, mineral fuels, oils and gas products had made up more than 90% of Nigerian exports to the United States over the preceding two years.
In that assessment, the ministry warned that U.S. tariff measures could raise costs and unsettle buyer commitments for smaller non-oil exporters.
U.S. Africa Command commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson said military tools alone could not secure lasting stability, explaining the effort to coordinate security and economic policy. Nigeria’s ministry traced the trade partnership to a bilateral commercial dialogue begun in 2017.
Neither account gives a date for a next commercial decision or a Nigeria-specific project arising from the Oct. 29 dialogue.
