The southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho has declared a national "state of disaster" over soaring unemployment and mass job losses as it reels from the economic fallout of US tariffs and aid cuts.

Key African economies are set to stake out different approaches to interest rates in the coming weeks as they gauge the impact of US President Donald Trump’s new tariff proposals and their domestic influences on their economies and inflation.

The upshot is a paradox. Under Mr Trump America will do a lot less in Africa than it has done for decades. But African leaders will get more chances to have the ear of the American president.

In tonight's edition, President Donald Trump told leaders from five African nations on Wednesday that he was shifting the U.S. approach to the continent from aid to trade. Also, Lesotho has declared a national "state of disaster" over soaring unemployment and mass job losses as it reels from the economic fallout of US tariffs and aid cuts.

A temporary pause on US tariffs has brought little relief to Lesotho’s textile industry, which has suffered layoffs and shuttered factories after orders from America dried up.“It’s very, very dire,” Lesotho’s Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile,

President Donald Trump said Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals.