‘Math makes no sense at all’: Lesotho, one of Africa’s poorest nations, hit with 50% US tariff

On Thursday, the entrepreneur Arnud Bertrand called on the newly announced US tariff on Lesotho, which described the so-called mutual tariff regime of former President Donald Trump.

“To illustrate how absurd those tariffs are, for example, one of the poorest countries in Africa, at a year of $ 2.4 billion, the highest rate is given to the list.”

Lesothon, Lesothon, South Africa is part of the South African Customs Union (SAUR) along with South Africa, Esuatini and Botswa. All five countries use the overall external tariff structure, but they have received large tariff tariffs from 50% to 50% from US-Lesotho by 30%, Namibia – 37%, and Eswatini is only 10%.

Bertrand claims that the disproportion proves that tariffs are not calculated on the basis of real trade policy, but a “primitive and economically meaningless resolution”. According to him, the United States has apparently used the bilateral trade deficit, in particular, the difference between our imports and exports, which is divided into the country’s export, and then mutilate that number.

“In the case of Lesotho.” He explained. “The calculation is happening.

Bertrand pointed out the absurdity of the nation like Lesotho, where more than half of the population lives less than 3.65 dollars a day. “They just can’t afford the US products. No one is going to buy iPhone or Tesla on such income. ” He wrote.

He also interrogated how such tariffs reach the purpose of Tramphone to restore US production. “47.3% of Lesotho’s export is diamond. How do you bring that “production” to the US? ” He asked.

Instead of correcting the trade imbalance, Bertrand said that tariffs punish countries for structural economic realities that they cannot control. He added.

Bertrand concluded. “In the name of the fight against an antitide trade, America simply showed what really unfair trade is like.”

The mentioned economist Nurel Rubin also scored the US tariff methodology, saying that the whole resolution is completely flawless, as it is false that the only fair balance is zero. “With this standard, as the United States provides services to trade surplus services, other countries must force large services against the United States,” Rubini said.