Entrepreneur Arnaud Bertrand on Thursday called out the United States’ newly announced 50% tariff on Lesotho, describing it as a glaring example of the “economic incoherence” behind former President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariff regime.

“To illustrate just how nonsensically these tariffs were calculated, take the example of Lesotho, one of the poorest countries in Africa with just $2.4 billion in annual GDP, which is being struck with a 50% tariff rate under the Trump plan, the highest rate among all countries on the list,” Bertrand said in a detailed post on X.

Lesotho, a landlocked country in southern Africa, is part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) along with South Africa, Namibia, Eswatini, and Botswana. All five countries apply a common external tariff structure, yet they have received vastly different tariff rates from the US—Lesotho at 50%, South Africa at 30%, Namibia at 21%, Botswana at 37%, and Eswatini just 10%.

Bertrand argued that the disparity proves the tariffs are not calculated based on actual trade policies but rather on a “simplistic and economically senseless formula.” According to him, the US appears to have used the bilateral trade deficit—specifically, the difference between US imports and exports—divided by the country’s exports to determine a notional “tariff”, and then applied half that number in the name of reciprocity.

“In Lesotho’s case,” he explained, “the calculation goes like this: ($236M – $7M)/$235M = 97%. That’s the ‘tariff’ Lesotho is deemed to charge the US, and half of that, i.e. roughly 50%, is what the US ‘reciprocates’ with.”

Bertrand pointed out the absurdity of punishing a nation like Lesotho, where over half the population lives on less than $3.65 a day. “They simply can’t afford US products. No one is going to buy an iPhone or a Tesla on that sort of income.” he wrote.

He also questioned how such tariffs achieve Trump’s stated goal of restoring US manufacturing. “47.3% of Lesotho’s exports are diamonds: how do you bring the ‘manufacturing’ of that ‘back to the U.S.’?” he asked.

Instead of correcting trade imbalances, Bertrand said the tariffs penalise countries for structural economic realities they cannot control. He added, “These tariffs represent a complete reversal of longstanding U.S. development policy” that had once promoted trade as a pathway out of poverty.

Bertrand concluded, “In the name of fighting unfair trade, America has just demonstrated what truly unfair trade looks like.”

Noted economist Nouriel Roubini also slammed the US tariff methodology, saying the entire formula is totally flawed as it falsely assumes the only fair trade balance is zero. “By that standard, since the US runs a trade surplus in services, other countries should impose a large services reciprocal tariff against the US,” Roubini said.