 "Reciprocity or retaliation? Trump’s Africa tariffs trigger humanitarian emergency")
Africa is a continent of extremes—of breathtaking beauty and brutal hardship. Its savannahs teem with lions, elephants and zebras, while beneath its soil lie vast fossil fuel reserves. Yet, it is also a region that has repeatedly been wracked by war, famine and economic devastation.
Hopes for renewal have dimmed under the weight of punitive trade measures imposed by US President Donald Trump. Nowhere is this more evident than in Lesotho, where aggressive tariffs and aid withdrawals are collapsing entire industries, fraying social safety nets and deepening humanitarian distress.
Trade, not aid: A broken promise
When President Trump entered office, he pledged to pivot US engagement with Africa from dependency on aid to self-reliance through trade. However, his administration soon undercut both promises. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s decision to dismantle foreign aid programmes was followed by tariff hikes that disproportionately targeted poor African nations like Lesotho. These actions have caused widespread economic damage, rather than fostering the prosperity the president initially promised.
Lesotho, a landlocked country of 2.3 million, once thrived under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allowed duty-free access to the US for its textile products. For decades, this policy enabled thousands of Basotho workers—many of them women—to find stable jobs manufacturing clothes for American retailers like Levi’s and Walmart. But with the imposition of 50 per cent tariffs, Lesotho’s highest-ever rate under Trump’s reciprocal trade regime, that progress has been all but erased.
Collapsing industry, crumbling livelihoods
Lesotho’s textile sector, the backbone of its economy, is in freefall. Before the tariffs, the Ever Successful Textile factory in Maseru employed 650 workers, 80–90 per cent of whom produced goods for the US market. As orders dried up, the factory’s workforce plummeted to just 90 employees finishing one final batch of black workout pants for export. Many workers, already living paycheck to paycheck, are now jobless with no safety net.
Despite modest increases in Lesotho’s minimum wage—equivalent to just $168 a month—most workers had no savings to cushion the blow of sudden unemployment.
Government in crisis
Facing economic freefall, Lesotho’s government declared a state of disaster in July 2025. Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile voiced frustration at being penalised for effectively using the AGOA framework to grow the national economy. He also disclosed that lobbyists claiming ties to Trump’s inner circle demanded $1.5 million for tariff relief lobbying—a sum the country could not and would not pay, especially without guaranteed results.
In an attempt to mitigate the crisis, the government redirected limited public funds toward economic stimulus programmes. These included waiving business registration fees and creating startup funds. But these measures are unlikely to compensate for the loss of thousands of textile jobs, which account for nearly 20 per cent of Lesotho’s GDP and a similar share of its formal employment, The Wall Street Journal report said.
Infrastructure left half-built
The damage is not confined to the urban factories. In rural regions, US-funded infrastructure projects have also come to a halt. The Khama-Khamane Primary School in Qabane, which lost its roof to a storm, had been slated for reconstruction with $9,000 in US funding. But after the disbursement of just half that amount, the Trump administration ended aid support.
Across the country, similar projects—from schoolhouses to clinics—have been frozen mid-construction. These delays affect not just education but also access to healthcare and clean water. In places where children already studied under trees or in churches, the withdrawal of American aid is more than an inconvenience. It’s a reversal of years of slow but meaningful progress.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAfrica-wide economic strain
Lesotho is not alone. According to BusinessDay NG and The Star, numerous African nations have been hit with steep tariffs under Trump’s reciprocal trade order. Madagascar faces a 47 per cent tariff, while Mauritius, Botswana, Angola, Libya and South Africa face rates ranging from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. Even resource-rich Nigeria now faces a 14 per cent tariff. These measures have come at a critical time, with the African Growth and Opportunity Act set to expire in September 2025 and little appetite in the US Congress for renewal.
In South Africa, Trump’s 30 per cent tariff has jeopardised citrus and agricultural exports, endangering up to 100,000 jobs. In Madagascar, a similar share of the economy—centred on textile exports—is now at risk. With AGOA in limbo, countries are racing to seek new trade alliances, including closer ties with China, Brics, or through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
A bleak horizon
The most pressing concern now is whether AGOA will be renewed. Set to expire in September 2025, the act’s lapse could permanently close off African duty-free access to the US market. The potential loss looms large over trade-dependent economies, many of which lack the negotiating power or industrial base to absorb such a blow.
African governments have begun to engage the World Trade Organisation and explore alternative trade partners, but such transitions take time. Meanwhile, thousands of workers, like those in Lesotho, are left in economic limbo—struggling to feed families, pay school fees and afford medication.
Human cost of tariff diplomacy
The situation unfolding in Lesotho and across Africa is a stark reminder that economic policy is never just about numbers—it has human consequences. While reciprocal trade may seem fair in theory, applying it to nations with vastly unequal economic power results in devastating imbalances.
Trump’s tariff-first approach, coupled with slashed aid, has not incentivised reform or self-reliance in Africa. Instead, it has intensified poverty, unemployment and vulnerability in some of the world’s most fragile states.
Trade is a powerful tool. But when wielded without consideration for context or consequence, it can destroy more than it builds.
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