In Lesotho, which makes denim that goes into U.S.-branded jeans, both the private sector and the government were weighing their next moves.

The government of Lesotho told its citizens not to panic after the U.S. announced a trade tariff that risks wiping out nearly half of its exports.

If you have ever bought a pair of jeans from an American brand like Levi’s or Wrangler, chances are they were manufactured at a factory in the small southern African nation of Lesotho. Textile manufacturing is one of Lesotho's key industries,

US president imposes 50% reciprocal levy on the impoverished state: the highest of his so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Considered the cornerstone of US-Africa economic relations, the aim was to help industrialise the continent, create employment and lift dozens of countries out of poverty. It was based on a philosophy of replacing aid with trade.

But the fallout from the U.S. tariffs could be severe. Lesotho’s Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile warned of looming factory closures and job losses in the textile sector, which employs about 12,000 people. “We are deeply concerned,” he said, adding that the government would send an urgent delegation to Washington to negotiate a better deal.

Lesotho scrambled to put together a delegation on Friday to head to Washington to engage with the United States on tariffs that risk wiping out nearly half of its exports, its trade minister said, in what could be a death blow to its economy.

Lesotho’s textile industry, a key pillar of its economy, faces an uncertain future after US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on imports from the country. With nearly 75 per cent of its textile exports going to the US,