For Lesotho, 15% tariff down from 50% could still mean disaster
Published on: Sunday 03 August 2025
STORY: Donald Trump had threatened to impose a 50% tariff rate on tiny Lesotho - potentially decimating the textile industry on which the landlocked-mountainous kingdom depends.So you might think that last week's decision to significantly lower that rate to 15% would be met with a sigh of relief.Instead, Lesotho's trade minister warns it might still not be enough to avoid a disaster.“For me it’s still like 50% because our people in the garment industry will not compete."Mokhethi Shelile pointed to competition from Eswatini and Kenya, both of whom have lower U.S. tariff rates at 10%."... and they are, both are in the same market as us, and it would be quite easy for the buyers to switch their allegiance to these two countries and place orders in these two countries."The textile industry is Lesotho's biggest private employer and responsible for roughly 90% of manufacturing exports.It was also heavily dependent on the African Growth and Opportunities Act, or AGOA, which offered qualifying African nations duty-free access to the U.S. market.However, under the tariff threats, many U.S. importers have canceled orders of Lesotho-produced textiles.Shelile said there are close to 12,000 jobs directly in the firing line and another 40,000 that depend on those 12,000.At a market in Lesotho's capital Maseru, clothing vendor Hopolang Lebamang fears for his future.The knock-on effects of the tariffs will mean he has to inflate his prices, he says, and that will make them unaffordable for his clients.Lesotho's textile factories have in recent months indicated that they were searching for new markets.Shelile also said his government would continue to engage with the White House in the hope of having the tariff lowered.
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