Tiny African kingdom of Lesotho slapped with highest tariff in the world

6 comments

1. Couldn’t they just find a few intermediary countries like the UK that have a lower U.S. tariff rate to lessen the blow? Their volume of exports to the U.S. ($237m) is quite low for them but wouldn’t be a large additional burden on the UK’s export volume ($50b+) to the U.S..

   Feels like there’s an opportunity for middlemen countries to set up a tariff work-around industry that the Trump administration would probably suck at unveiling.

2. This will be devastating. I know someone who spent a lot of time in Lesotho, and from what he says there will be next to no opportunities for the laid of textile workers.

3. I still can’t believe that the US is finally traffing Israel….

   And they have the 3rd highest tariffs (17%) in the Middle East too, after Jordan (20%) and Syria (41%). Even Iran (10%) is lower than Israel

4. The US makes up nearly 30% of their total export revenue. This is going to devastate Lesotho’s economy. There’s no doubt that most countries at this point are reconsidering whether or not they want to do business with the United States. Even if the presidency switches back to the Democratic Party, you can’t be guaranteed that in 4 to 8 more years that your business will be crushed by another isolationist and disestablishmentarian Republican. 

   TLDR: My country’s reputation has been tarnished orange. 

5. I had a look into why this trade deficit existed earlier today, and it’s one of the clearest examples of how fucking stupid the way they’ve calculated these is.

   Lesotho mostly buys vaccines and medical technology from the US. They literally don’t have money to buy much else, regardless of whether they wanted to.

   Meanwhile their biggest export to the US is handmade clothing like knitwear. There’s no chance in hell that US workers will be ready to work for a fraction of the minimum wage making labour intensive clothing.

6. This shit is going to ruin many lives in poor countries who sell cash crops to the US. Even if other markets like China want to buy them, the supply chains cannot be replaced for years. And people from those countries will resent the US for the next 2 generations at a minimum.

   Historians will mark April 2, 2025 as the end of the American Century and the beginning of the Chinese Century.

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