The tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho has been hit with a 50% reciprocal trade tariff by U.S. President Donald Trump, the highest levy of any single state on his long list of target economies.

Lesotho, a landlocked country in southern Africa, is part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) along with South Africa, Namibia, Eswatini, and Botswana.

Lesotho emerged as the hardest-hit country in the world by the US reciprocal tariffs imposed on many countries across the globe.

Donald Trump launched a new assault on the global trading order on Wednesday, imposing a barrage of new tariffs including on all US imports in a move that sent Wall Street stock futures tumbling. The president said a levy of 10 per cent would apply to nearly all US imports from April 5 as he also revealed additional so-called reciprocal duties,

President Trump imposed the steepest American tariffs in a century as he steps up his campaign to reshape the global economy. Many African countries have been hit with the so-called reciprocal tariffs including a 31% levy on South Africa and 50% on Lesotho.

Countries will struggle to figure out how Trump’s officials calculated each specific rate, which he said was based on a mix of tariffs, subsidies and currency manipulation. A few, such as Brazil and the UK,

European shares slumped to a two-month low on Thursday, with trade-sensitive Germany hit the hardest, as a fresh round of aggressive U.S. tariffs escalated a global trade war and stoked fears of an economic slowdown.

South Africa's presidency said on Thursday that the new U.S. tariffs underscore the need to negotiate a new bilateral trade deal with Washington to ensure long-term trade certainty. U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled global reciprocal tariffs on most goods imported to the United States on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump is stepping up his massive global trade war, a move that’s certain to weigh on Americans’ wallets and could push the US economy into a painful recession.