After Trump tariff has been hit, Lesotho turns to Asia and other markets

Lesotho is terminating buyers in Asia and elsewhere for its textiles after producers have been beaten by the uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump’s new tariff regime and have already secured new matters from the neighboring South Africa. “We strive for alternative markets from everywhere,” Mokhethi Shelile, Minister of Trade, said in an interview. “It is in Southeast Asia, Asia, Africa and Europe.” The Southern African Customs Union, a free trade consisting of Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa, is a priority market, and its members respond ‘positively to us’, he said. The US has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the import of the mountain kingdom in April – the highest in the world at the time – when Trump unveiled the reciprocal charges on trade partners. US orders, Lesotho’s largest textiles export market, has dried up almost overnight, causing factories to stop operations and serious job losses. After a break of more than three months, the levy was reduced to 15%. While it is positive, the reduction is “not good enough for our textile industry”, as buyers can switch to countries at even lower reciprocal rates, Shelile said. Goods from competitors Eswatini and Kenya are subjected to 10% duties. The textile sector – Lesotho’s largest private employer – employs 12,000 people and supports 40,000 indirect work. US buyers include retailers such as Walmart Inc., JC Penney and Levi Strauss & Co., the small African nation, surrounded by South Africa, is fishing for a rate of 10% or less and see space for further discussions with the US trade representative office as it can diversify the sales above its largest clothing. “We already want to turn from the US and some factories are exporting to South Africa,” Shelile said. The most important problem that remains is how quickly can record orders for the textile industry to prevent a disaster, he added. A two -year disaster declaring Lesotho’s government last month will remain in place amid rising unemployment. For the twice a weekly next African newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa Podcast on Apple, Spotify or everywhere you listen. © 2025 Bloomberg MP This article was generated from an automatic news agency feed without edits to text.