Whiplash as Lesotho goes from 50% tariff to 15%published at 02:27 British Summer Time
02:27 BST
Image source, BBC NewsImage caption,
Mass layoffs hit Lesotho’s garment industry hard after Trump initially threatened the country with a 50% tariff
The tiny African nation of Lesotho is getting a 15% tariff, a steep drop from the 50% that Trump announced in April.
The White House had justified the tariff, saying that Lesotho had a 99% tariff on US imports. Lesotho has said it does not know how the US arrived at this figure.
With the threat of a 50% tariff looming, many businesses in Lesotho were forced to lay off workers. The country is known as the denim capital of Africa, and produces textiles that are sent all over the world.
The BBC recently visited a clothing factory in Lesotho which has produced golf shirts for Donald Trump’s business in the past.
“We don’t know how we survive this one. We are going to die,” factory worker Aletta Seleso told our reporters.
The drop to 15% tariffs will be a relief to Lesotho, but it may still be some time before workers that were fired are rehired by the industry.
The textile and garment industry is Lesotho’s largest private sector employer providing, at its peak, around 50,000 jobs, out of a population of just over two million.
The figure now hovers around 36,000 according to the government, with 12,000 jobs directly affected by the US tariffs.
Read more: Lesotho factory that made Trump golf shirts hit hard by US tariffs