Trump's 50% tariff on his shirts

The tax on Lesotho products will cost the US president, not least in irony - the country produces his golf tees

- Tim Cohen

There are so many heaps of ironies and stupidities about the Trump Tariff Tantrum, but none more so than the fact that Lesotho, the 22nd poorest country in the world, is the joint hardest hit by the new tariff regime. But that is not all.

The reason US President Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on products from Lesotho is essentially a consequence of the formula the US administration has used to calculate the tariffs. Rigidly applied, it creates these weird anomalies.

This is particularly so if the country is small and poor, as Lesotho is. Therefore its proportional tariffs end up being enormous despite its exports in absolute terms being minuscule. Additionally, if you happen to be a small, poor country, you are importing very little because the goods are broadly unaffordable. Lesotho’s trade surplus is less than a percentage point compared with the Chinese trade surplus with the US.