The Minister of Commerce said that Lesoto was quick to assemble a delegation on Friday to go to Washington to interact with the United States on the customs tariff that risk wiping nearly half of its exports.
The tariff for mutual trade was 50 percent in the South African Mountain Kingdom of Mountain, the highest tax on US President Donald Trump’s list of targeted economies.
“The last political trend takes place by the United States is shocking,” said Trade Minister Mocheiti Shelils on Friday, adding that 45 percent of its exports went to the United States.
He said that officials have already been involved in the American embassy “for clarification and how, why was Lesuto included in the list of … such mutual tariffs.”
On Wednesday, Trump struck the international trade partners in America with definitions, raising decades of trade -based trade that activists have long said they are exceptionally favorable to rich countries like the United States. The logical basis for the tariff specified by the White House has not been determined, though Theories of how to calculate prices It appeared.
The kingdom of two million people, which is attended by South Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world, with the GDP to the individual reached 916 USD in 2023, according to World Bank figures.
Lesoto’s exports to the United States, most of which are textiles for famous brands such as jeans and diamonds, are more than ten domestic product in the country.
“The mutual tariff is 50 percent made by the US government will kill the textile and clothing sector in Lesoto,” Thabu Casey, an independent economic analyst in Masero, told Reuters.
American exports to Lesoto in 2024 were $ 2.8 million, according to US government figures. The imports of American commodities from Lesoto in 2024 amounted to $ 237.3 million, an increase of 2023, But less than it was in recent yearsWhen the number is hovering near or higher than the $ 300 million sign.
According to the Economic Summary Observatory, delivery trucks, vaccines and food preparation machines are the largest part of American exports to Lesoto in 2023.
Previous pain from the American International Development Agency stories
The Economic Oxford said that the textile sector, which includes about 40,000 workers, was the largest private employer in Lesoto, and represented nearly 90 percent of manufacturing and exports.
“Then, you have retailers who sell food. Then you have residential real estate owners who rent homes for workers. So this means that if the closing of the factories occurs, the industry will die and there will be double effects,” said Qhesi.
The mutual definitions of US President Donald Trump were described as “strictly planned”, but among the goals are the non -coastal African nation in Lesoto, a homeland of an island of an American air base, the Australian island island and the McDonald islands – where most of the population was folded.
Shelil, the minister, said that Lesoto gathered a high -level delegation to the United States. In the medium term, he said that the Kingdom “will increase efforts to export to alternative markets such as the European Union and the Free Continental Trade Zone in Africa.”
Lesoto was previously affected by the Trump administration’s change in philosophy from previous departments regarding foreign aid.
Foreign Minister told Reuters last month that the country, which has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection, was already feeling the impact of the USA’s USAID discounts as its health sector was dependent on it.
Trump, in a letter to Congress last month, denounced some of the aid that had previously been allocated to the Limotho, which was distinguished as an “African nation” that no one was heard. Laughter can be heard from Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives after its suspension.
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