After a Trump tariff blow, Lesotho resorts to Asia and other textile markets

Lesotho is courting buyers in Asia and other places for their textiles after the producers were mistreated by the uncertainty surrounding the new tariff regime of US President Donald Trump and has already obtained new businesses from neighboring South Africa.

“We are looking for alternative markets everywhere,” said Commerce Minister Mokhethi Shellil, in an interview. “That is in Southeast Asia, Asia, Africa and Europe.”

The Customs Union of South Africa, a block of free trade that includes Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa, is a priority market, and its members “respond positively to us,” he said.

The United States threatened to impose a 50% rate on the imports of the mountain kingdom in April, the highest in the world at that time, when Trump announced the reciprocal levies of commercial partners. The orders of the United States, the largest export market for Lesotho for textiles, dried almost overnight, which makes factories stop the operations and serious losses of jobs.

After a pause of more than three months, the tax was reduced to 15%. While it is positive, the reduction “is not good enough for our textile industry”, since buyers can change to nations with even lower reciprocal tariffs, Shellile said. The goods of the competitors Eswatini and Kenia are being subjected to duties of 10%.

The textile sector, the largest private employer in Lesotho, uses 12,000 people and supports 40,000 indirect jobs. American buyers include retailers such as Walmart Inc., JC Penney and Levi Strauss & Co.

The small African nation, surrounded by South Africa, is tilting a tariff of 10% or less and sees space for more conversations with the Office of the United States Commercial Representative, since it seeks to diversify sales beyond its largest buyer of garments.

“We are already looking to get away from the USA. And some factories are exported to South Africa,” Shellil said. The main problem that remains is how quick orders for the textile industry can capture to avoid disaster, he added.

A two -year national disaster state that Lesotho's government declared last month in a high unemployment will remain in force.