• as tariff talks fail to take off 
• leaving country in severe limbo
• still facing a dire jobs bloodbath 

Mohloai Mpesi 

LESOTHO’s efforts to negotiate better trade terms with the United States and save thousands of mainly textile jobs lie in tatters. 

This after the much anticipated talks between the Kingdom’s officials and US Trade representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, failed to take place in Pretoria on?Thursday. 

Trade, Industry, and Business Development Minister, Mokhethi Shelile, claims when the Lesotho delegation arrived at the venue of the meeting on Friday, Mr Greer was nowhere to be found. They were then informed that the US trade representative and his team had already left.  

Mr Shelile said they were puzzled because they had not received any prior warning that the meeting would no longer take place.

He said the highly anticipated meeting had been scheduled for 2:30 pm on Thursday 24 April. Lesotho had hoped to persuade President Donald Trump’s administration to reverse the hefty 50 percent reciprocal tariffs it imposed on Lesotho in early April as part of Mr Trump’s wave of changes to the global trade system. 

Minister Shelile told the Sunday Express yesterday that, upon arriving for the meeting, the Lesotho delegation was informed that Mr Greer and his team were unavailable. 

“Indeed, we had received inconclusive information while we were on the way to the meeting, that the US Trade Representative might no longer be available,” Mr Shelile said, expressing frustration over the lack of communication and clarity. 

“There were no discussions at all. We are still trying to find out why they did not show up.” 

To further complicate matters, an official at the US embassy in Maseru, when contacted for comment, told the Sunday Express his information was that the meeting had indeed taken place.  

“The information we received is that the meeting occurred. I don’t understand what your source is saying when he says the meeting did not happen,” the source said. 

When the Sunday Express returned to Mr Shelile with this information, the minister insisted that the meeting had not taken place. It was possible the US Embassy had not been updated on the issue, the minister said. 

Which all leaves Lesotho in a perilous state as the common denominator in the minister and the embassy official’s statement is that no deal is on the table yet.

If the meeting had indeed taken place, the official would not provide any details including whether a deal had been reached. 

The US embassy in Maseru seems to have become comatose after Mr Trump returned to power in January 2025 and after all the chaos?that have since defined his administration. The embassy has rarely issued official statements to clarify many of its government’s controversial manoeuvres in the last few months.? In fact, embassy officials often seem taken by surprise by their government’s pronouncements, with no indication they get any prior communication before official decisions are announced. 

Mr Shelile insisted the meeting was scheduled for 2:30 pm on Thursday, but when they arrived, they were told Mr Greer, and his team had already left. 

He even referred the Sunday Express to Thabang Lekhela, the Principal Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, and his Minister Lejone Mpotjoana to corroborate his account. 

However, both Messrs Lekhela and Mpotjoana were unreachable for comment, as their mobile numbers were unavailable. 

He further referred this publication to his ministry’s PS, Palesa Matobako, to corroborate his story. She could also not be reached for comment last night. 

Mr Shelile, sounding despondent, said he could not lie that the meeting did not happen if it had indeed taken?place. 

“I cannot say there was no meeting if there was,” Mr Shelile said. 

“Perhaps your US Embassy source was not updated about the changes.” 

When asked what all this means in view of the Trump administration’s generally contemptuous attitude towards Lesotho, Mr Shelile said he was still puzzled but did not want to make assumptions until he had established the cause of the snub. 

“I don’t know what it means. I am yet to find out. Call me again on Monday. Maybe then I will have the details.” 

“What I must find out is why the meeting did not take place and why we were not informed of the changes,” Mr Shelile continued. 

“Again, this anonymous source of yours from the US Embassy must have a face because we cannot defend ourselves against someone without a name. It’s not fair to us at all.” 

Addressing a joint session of the US Congress on 5 March 2025, President Trump berated Lesotho as an African country that “nobody has heard of”.

He then announced the cancellation of a US$8 million (M149 million) aid package which he said had been meant to promote LGBTQ+ rights. This was in addition to other major aid cuts across various humanitarian programmes funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which he has since shuttered. 

Reports have suggested the Trump administration is considering shutting the US embassy in Maseru. 

The backdrop of the Friday meeting was particularly significant as Mr Shelile’s team had hoped to seek a reversal of the 50 percent reciprocal tariffs imposed on Lesotho. 

Even though Mr Trump has put the tariffs on hold for 90 days, they will inevitably destroy Lesotho’s textiles industry if they are eventually effected. 

Mr Shelile’s team had hoped to debunk the Trump administration’s claims that America’s exports into Lesotho are tariffed at 99 percent, the justification used for the hefty reciprocal tariffs. 

Mr Shelile insists that Lesotho maintains a standard Southern African Customs Union (SACU) tariff rate of just 7.5 percent on all US imports.? His delegation had also hoped to convince the US that America has nothing to gain from imposing such high tariffs on a poor country like Lesotho. America’s exports to Lesotho were too insignificant to warrant such punitive reciprocal measures against one of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LCDs). 

If the no show by the American delegation is indicative of the Trump administration’s continual negative attitudes towards Lesotho, then the Kingdom is in real trouble.  

Prime?Minister Sam Matekane’s coalition is perhaps better off concentrating its efforts on finding new markets and friends elsewhere. 

At least 12 000 textile jobs are at stake if Mr Trump maintains his tariff regime which has effectively nullified the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), under which Lesotho’s textiles sector – among those of other qualifying African countries – had prospered with duty free access into America since 2000.