African kingdom Lesotho is among those hardest hit by Trump tariffs

Lesotho faces devastating impact of 50% U.S. reciprocal trade tariff, threatening textile sector and economy.

The tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho has been hit with a 50% reciprocal trade tariff by U.S. President Donald Trump, the highest levy of any single State on his long list of target economies.

Lesotho, which Mr. Trump had ridiculed in March as a country "nobody has ever heard of", is a poor and landlocked country with a gross domestic product of just over $2 billion.

It has a large trade surplus with the United States, mostly made up of diamonds and textiles, including Levi's jeans.

Its exports to the United States, which in 2024 totalled $237 million, account for more than 10% of GDP, Oxford Economics said.

Mr. Trump on Wednesday imposed sweeping new reciprocal tariffs on global trading partners, upending decades of rules-based trade and threatening cost increases for consumers.

Mr. Trump said the "reciprocal" tariffs were a response to duties and other non-tariff barriers put on U.S. goods. Lesotho charges 99% tariffs on American goods, according to the U.S. administration.

In Africa, the move signalled the end of the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) trade deal that was supposed to help African economies develop through preferential access to U.S. markets, trade experts said.