US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs of 50% on all imports from Lesotho, the second highest rate of any country in the world after China.<\/p>\n
The tiny southern African country has a large trade surplus with the US, mostly from diamonds and textiles, including jeans.<\/p>\n
Trump has announced a minimum rate of 10% on all countries\u2019 imports to the US and additional \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d for dozens of countries, including 20 in Africa.<\/p>\n
Other African countries hit with extra tariffs include 47% for Madagascar, 40% for Mauritius, 37% for Botswana and 30% for South Africa.<\/p>\n
Nigerian exports will be hit too \u2013 at a rate of 14%.<\/p>\n
Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Liberia were among those countries whose exports to the US will be subject to the baseline tariff of 10%.<\/p>\n
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs were \u201cfor countries that treat us badly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tariffs are additional taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.<\/p>\n
During Wednesday\u2019s announcement at the White House, the Republican president said that the US had been taken advantage of by \u201ccheaters\u201d and had been \u201cpillaged\u201d by foreigners.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it is not going to happen any more,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our declaration of economic independence,\u201d he added while holding up a chart showing a list of countries that charge higher tariffs on US goods, impose \u201cnon-tariff\u201d barriers to US trade or have otherwise acted in ways US officials feel undermine American economic goals.<\/p>\n
The US is Lesotho\u2019s second biggest trading partner \u2013 after South Africa \u2013 amounting to around 28% of its total trade in 2022.<\/p>\n
According to the White House, in 2024 while the US exported just $2.8m (\u00a32.1m) worth of goods to Lesotho, its imports from the southern African country amounted to $237.3m.<\/p>\n
The 50% tariff figure appears to have been reached through US officials looking at the relationship between the trade deficit with Lesotho and the total value of goods imported from Lesotho into the US.<\/p>\n
For Lesotho, the extra costs that the tariffs will incur for American buyers could have a big impact as the country\u2019s US trade amounts to more than 10% of its total economy.<\/p>\n
Lesotho\u2019s garment factories have made jeans for iconic American brands such as Levi\u2019s and Wrangler in recent years. These exports were done through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows eligible African countries to send some goods to the US without having tariffs slapped on them.<\/p>\n
Agoa, signed into law by Bill Clinton in 2000, was intended to help African countries grow their economies and create jobs but these tariffs appear to threaten its future.<\/p>\n
South Africa is included in the long list of countries dubbed the \u201cworst offenders\u201d, which also involve China, Japan and the European Union \u2013 that now face higher US rates \u2013 payback for unfair trade policies, Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have got some bad things going on in South Africa. You know, we are paying them billions of dollars, and we cut the funding because a lot of bad things are happening in South Africa,\u201d he said, before going on to name other countries.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s biggest export to the US is platinum, which may be exempted from the import tax. But its second biggest export \u2013 cars \u2013 will be hit hard.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the South African presidency condemned the new tariffs as \u201cpunitive\u201d, saying they could \u201cserve as a barrier to trade and shared prosperity\u201d.<\/p>\n
The White House released a list of roughly 100 countries and the tariff rates that the US would impose on what Trump dubbed \u201cliberation day\u201d for the American people.<\/p>\n
Trump added 34% of so-called reciprocal tariffs to existing 20% duties on all Chinese imports to the US, making it the highest rate globally.<\/p>\n
In addition, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all foreign-made cars.<\/p>\n
The US is the second biggest market for South Africans cars after Germany.<\/p>\n
The US is expected to start charging the 10% tariffs on 5 April, with the higher duties for certain nations starting on 9 April.<\/p>\n
African countries like South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya have long had trade agreements with the US, and the new tariffs could significantly affect existing economic ties.<\/p>\n
The tariffs come as many African countries are already grappling with the effects of US foreign aid cuts, which provided health and humanitarian assistance to vulnerable countries.<\/p>\n
Trump announced the aid freeze on his first day in office in January as part of a review into the US government spending.<\/p>\n
US-South Africa relations have deteriorated sharply since Trump returned to power.<\/p>\n
Trump and his ally, South-Africa born Elon Musk, have singled out South Africa, in particular criticising it over its land reform policies that they say discriminate against white farmers.<\/p>\n
Economists say the new tariffs mark a clear departure from the more open trade policies that have previously defined US-Africa relations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs of 50% on all imports from Lesotho, the second highest rate of any country in the world after China. The tiny southern African country has a large trade surplus with the US, mostly from diamonds and textiles, including jeans. Trump has announced a minimum rate of 10% on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}