How Tiny Lesotho Ended up with the Highest US Tariffs in the World
If you have ever bought a pair of jeans from an American brand like Levi’s or Wrangler, chances are they were manufactured at a factory in the small southern African nation of Lesotho.
Textile manufacturing is one of Lesotho’s key industries, exporting some 75% of its output to the United States.
This is expected to change after US President Donald Trump slapped a 50% tariff on imports from Lesotho, the highest among all countries. According to Trump, Lesotho charges a 99% tariff on US goods, but the government said it doesn’t know how the US administration calculated that figure. Government officials did not say Thursday what Lesotho’s tariffs on US goods are.
Here is what the high tariffs mean for Lesotho:
A country ‘nobody has ever heard of’
Trump made fun of Lesotho in a speech in March, calling it a nation that “nobody has ever heard of.” Lesotho’s foreign minister reminded him that the US has a diplomatic mission there.
Last year, the landlocked kingdom bordered on all sides by South Africa with a population of 2.3 million people, celebrated 200 years of the founding of the Basotho nation and 58 years of independence from British rule.
