The News
Steep US tariffs on Lesotho, one of sub-Saharan Africa’s few manufacturing success stories, could cause an economic crisis.
The country is the largest African exporter of garments to the US, an industry built on a Bill Clinton-era trade agreement.
But President Donald Trump’s new import regime will impose 50% duties, Africa’s highest rates, once a 90-day reprieve is over. The levies will put tens of thousands of jobs on the line and limit the country’s ability to pay for electricity, the trade minister said.
Maseru has offered Washington various concessions, including removing obstacles to investment and potentially accepting deportees.
Among the garments made in Lesotho and threatened by the tariffs are Trump-branded golf shirts, the Financial Times noted.
