In July 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed sweeping tariff orders targeting dozens of countries. Africa took the hardest hit. Lesotho’s textile factories shuttered. Madagascaris at risk of losing tens of thousands of jobs. And a U.S. trade program once hailed as a model of goodwill — the African Growth and Opportunity Act — now lies in ruins. This isn’t just a global development crisis. It’s a strategic blunder that risks ceding the continent to China.
I was reminded of this rupture last month in a dusty Karachi bookshop, where I stumbled on a faded photo of Lesotho’s textile looms, women stitching jeans for American shelves. The image lingered, not for its craft, but for the silence that followed. Lesotho, a tiny African kingdom, was threatened to be hit with tariffs as high as 50% in April, which have now been set at 15%. Factories shut down, as many U.S. importers canceled orders amid the uncertainty. Thousands lost their jobs. Their machines now sit idle as casualties of a trade war few Americans even know exists.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, enacted in 2000, was a rare U.S. gesture of goodwill, granting 32 sub-Saharan nations duty-free access to American markets for textiles, cocoa, and automotives. It is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2025, and there has been no definitive confirmation that AGOA will or will not be renewed.