Lesotho declares state of disaster due to rising unemployment amid US tariffs

CAPE TOWN/ISTANBUL

Lesotho has declared a two-year state of disaster due to high unemployment following US President Donald Trump’s decision in April to impose a 50% tariff on imports from the African nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara made the announcement due to the unemployment rate reaching 30% and mass job losses.

Majara said the state of disaster, which envisages taking all necessary measures to minimize the effects of unemployment, will be valid until June 30, 2027.

According to official data, youth unemployment in Lesotho, which has a population of approximately 2.3 million, has reached nearly 50%.

In his March statement on the disclosure of foreign aid funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Trump described Lesotho, which received $8 million in aid, as “a country nobody has ever heard of.”

However, the 50% rate for Lesotho, which was part of what Trump described as "reciprocal tariffs" imposed in April on imports from dozens of countries, made it the country where the US imposed the highest tariff.

Although the imposition of the tariff was later halted, it had devastating effects on the economy of Lesotho, whose second largest export partner is the US, through job losses.

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), an economic data platform, Lesotho exported $228 million worth of goods to the United States in 2023, while its imports from the country remained below $8 million.

For Lesotho, which conducts more than 80% of its foreign trade with its only neighbor, South Africa, exports to the US account for more than 10% of the country's GDP.

Lesotho’s textile sector, which constitutes the basis of exports from the country to the US, employs approximately 40,000 people.