value of cell is not recognized as equal to listbox items even though it is - excel

Question

My code doesn't recognize cell values as equal to listbox items even though it is. Everything works perfectly until it begins the loop, where it then doesn't consider SelItem the same value as the cell value. I ran the loop seperately without it being part of the Userform sub and here it works fine.
I looked up in Locals window and the SelItem is a Variant/String variable and I guess it should be compatible with a cell value?
Please see code below.
Sub CommandButton3_Click()
Dim SelectedItems As String, LastRow As Long
Dim selItem As Variant, selItems As Variant
For i = 0 To CountryList.ListCount - 1
If CountryList.Selected(i) = True Then
SelectedItems = SelectedItems & CountryList.List(i) & vbNewLine
End If
Next i
If SelectedItems = "" Then
MsgBox "Please select minimum one country"
Else
CountrySelection.Hide
'Create New Sheet
Set WS = Sheets.Add(after:=Sheets(Worksheets.Count))
WS.Name = "Country Selection"
'If Sheet is VeryHidden
Dim WasHidden
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
If Sheets("Country Split").Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden Then
Sheets("Country Split").Visible = xlSheetVisible
WasHidden = True
End If
Sheets("Country Split").Select
Cells.Select
Selection.Copy
Sheets("Country Selection").Select
Range("A1").Select
ActiveSheet.Paste
'Format As Table
Set StartCell = Range("D10")
StartCell.CurrentRegion.Select
ActiveSheet.ListObjects.Add(xlSrcRange, , , xlYes).Name = _
"Country_Selection"
producttable = ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Country_Selection")
If WasHidden Then Sheets("Country Split").Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
LastRow = ActiveSheet.Range("F1").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell).Row
SelectedItems = Left(SelectedItems, Len(SelectedItems) - 1)
selItems = Split(SelectedItems, vbNewLine)
This is where it read If Range("F" & i).Value = selItem as not the same thing even though it is.
For Each selItem In selItems
For i = 11 To LastRow
If Range("F" & i).Value = selItem Then Rows(i).Hidden = True
Next i
Next
End If
For i = 11 To LastRow
If Rows(i).Hidden = True Then Rows(i).EntireRow.Delete
Next
Unload CountrySelection
End Sub