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.

It was the highest levy imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in his sweeping new tariffs on global trading partners on Wednesday, upending decades of rules-based trade and threatening cost increases for consumers.

Lesotho is in a desperate scramble to mitigate the devastating impact of newly imposed US tariffs, which threaten to obliterate nearly half of the nation’s exports, primarily its vital textile industry.

US President Donald Trump imposed a 50% reciprocal tariff on the tiny southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the highest levy for any sovereign nation. Most Read from BloombergMetro-North Is Fa

The small African kingdom of Lesotho feared the worst for its textile industry Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on its imports, the highest for a single nation.

Natural water resources and renewable energy potential in Lesotho can transform the country into a regional powerhouse, says the AfDB

STORY: A 50% reciprocal trade tariff on Lesotho will kill the tiny Southern African kingdom, an economic analyst there has said.It's the highest levy on U.S. President Donald Trump's long list of target economies.