"How jeans and diamonds pushed Lesotho to the top of Trump's tariffs list", 3 April 2025

Lesotho was slapped with the White House's highest tariff rates in the list released by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Americans bringing goods in from the small southern African country will have to pay an additional 50% import tax.

The US has a big trade deficit with Lesotho, which sells textiles – including jeans – and diamonds to America.

The 50% rate for Lesotho was part of what Trump described as "reciprocal tariffs" imposed on imports from dozens of countries, including 20 in Africa. All nations face a minimum rate of 10%.

Responding to the news, Lesotho's Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile said his government would send a delegation to Washington to argue against the new trade measure.

"My biggest concern was the immediate closure of factories and job losses," the AFP news agency quotes him as telling journalists on Thursday.

One of Trump's aims with his tariff announcement is to reduce his country's trade deficit with the rest of the world...

In recent years, Lesotho has been successful in selling textiles to the US, making the most of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). This US legislation from 2000 allowed eligible African countries to send some goods to the US without having tariffs slapped on them...

Lesotho's garment factories have made jeans for major American brands such as Levi's and Wrangler in recent years.

Clothes make up nearly three-quarters of what Lesotho exports to the US – its second biggest trading partner after South Africa.

The value of that US trade amounts to more than 10% of its total annual national income. The extra costs that the tariffs will incur for American buyers could reduce demand and therefore have a big impact on Lesotho's economy.

"This has been a devastating day for us," Teboho Kobeli, founder of Lesotho clothes manufacturer Afri-Expo Textiles, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme...

While his business, which Mr Kobeli says employs around 2,000 people, can look for other markets, the US is so significant that "we can't just shelve the US market... we need to do everything we can to bring [it] back"...

Other African countries hit with extra tariffs include 47% for Madagascar, 40% for Mauritius, 37% for Botswana and 30% for South Africa.

Nigerian exports will be hit too - at a rate of 14%.

Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Liberia were among those countries whose exports to the US will be subject to the baseline tariff of 10%. The US is not running a trade deficit with these countries...

South Africa is on the long list of countries dubbed the "worst offenders", which also includes China, Japan and the European Union. These now face higher US rates - payback for unfair trade policies, Trump said...

South Africa's biggest export to the US is platinum, which may be exempted from the import tax. But its second biggest export - cars - will be hit hard.

In a statement, the South African presidency condemned the new tariffs as "punitive", saying they could "serve as a barrier to trade and shared prosperity"...

"Diversifying our trade is going to be important... enhancing our work on the African continent and collaborating," he said...