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4 March, 2026The US imposition of steep tariffs on imports from Lesotho, announced by President Donald Trump in April 2025 as part of his “reciprocal” trade policy, has triggered a severe crisis in the mountain kingdom’s textile and garment sector which is the country’s largest private employer and a lifeline for tens of thousands of women.
For women workers, the fallout is particularly acute, as retrenched workers queue daily at factory gates from 7 am hoping for sporadic shifts while some turn to informal jobs like laundry or street vending. Job losses have plunged households into distress, with some workers struggling to pay for food, school fees, housing, or basics thus worsening food insecurity and reliance on subsistence farming or remittances. Unions describe a gendered supply chain shock, as women face limited alternatives in a patriarchal economy with scarce formal jobs.
Once thriving under the duty-free access provided by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Lesotho’s garment industry exported jeans, casual wear and garments for major brands like Levi’s, Gap, Walmart, Reebok and others to the US- its main market. Annual exports to the US reached over US$230 million, representing above 45 per cent of the sector’s output and contributing around 20 per cent of Lesotho’s GDP. The industry employed 50,000 workers at peak, with 80–95 per cent women, mostly breadwinners. According to unions, the workers wages were important to a nation plagued by widespread poverty and high unemployment of over 30 per cent with youth unemployment even higher.
The tariffs initially set at 50 per cent, the highest globally at the time, caused immediate chaos. Even after negotiations reduced the rate to 15 per cent which was still higher than the 10 per cent faced by other textile producing countries like Kenya, Eswatini and Ethiopia, buyer uncertainty, order cancellations and hesitation over AGOA’s future led to widespread disruptions. AGOA expired in September and was extended by only a year to 2026. This heightened fears of permanent loss of AGOA benefits.
Factories have closed, scaled back, or shifted operations to elsewhere. For example, Ever Unison Garments, which once peaked at over 2,000 workers, shut down temporarily and reopened with just 200 workers while expanding production in lower-tariff Kenya and Eswatini. Tai Yuan Garments closed, affecting 1,500 workers. TZICC Clothing Manufacturers closed with 700 jobs lost. Precious Garments, employing about 4,000 workers and producing for brands like Reebok, Mayor and Fish, has laid off all workers amid buyer reluctance over the short-term AGOA renewal.
Other factories report heavy cuts: Quantum Apparel retrenched over 50 per cent of its workforce. Hippo Knitting which produces for Fabletics dropped from 1,200 to 400 workers. Maseru E-Textiles which manufactures for Perry Ellis placed its 1,000 workers on indefinite leave after retrenching about 200 others.
IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL), warns that over tens of thousands of jobs are at risk potentially up to 40,000 if conditions persist in export-oriented operations. IDUL says many workers face reduced hours, partial wages some as low as one-third normal pay, no work, no pay policies and unpaid leave.
IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa regional secretary, Paule-France Ndessomin, said:
“As the effects of punitive tariffs on women-headed households in Lesotho take their toll, this underscores how US policy decisions can devastate jobs and distant livelihoods in the Global South, and why trade should be fair for developing countries.”