Donald Trump has never heard of Lesotho

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The government of Lesotho has expressed shock after US President Donald Trump referred to the country as a place “nobody has ever heard of” on Tuesday.

Trump made the comment during his first speech since returning to the Oval Office, where he was discussing cuts to what he called wasteful spending.

He mentioned a $8 million expenditure to promote LGBTQI+ rights in Lesotho, adding, “which nobody has ever heard of,” causing some US lawmakers to laugh.

Speaking to the BBC, a spokesperson for Lesotho’s foreign affairs department responded by saying that the country has “warm and cordial” relations with the US.

Lesotho also benefits from the US’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which offers favourable trade terms to boost economic growth.

Lesotho’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lejone Mpotjoane, said it was “shocking” for a head of state to refer to another country in such a manner. He said:

To my surprise, ‘the country that nobody has heard of’ is the country where the US has a permanent mission.

Lesotho is a member of the UN and of a number of other international bodies. And the US has an embassy here and [there are] a number of US organisations we’ve accommodated here in Maseru.

Officials have dismissed Trump’s comments as an “off the cuff” and “political statement,” saying they were “uncalled-for” considering the strong relations between the two countries. Foreign affairs spokesperson Kutloano Pheko told the BBC:

We maintain very warm and cordial relations with the US. They’ve got a mission in Maseru and we also have [one] in Washington.

Pheko could not confirm Trump’s comments about the funding to LGBTQ organisations, saying that since the money went directly to them, they would be in a better position to comment.

Mpotjoane, on the other hand, confirmed that the country had been impacted by Trump’s sudden decision to pause aid funding to countries around the world.