US President Donald Trump said on Friday that representatives from Pakistan will visit the US the following week in an effort to reach a tariff agreement.
Under tariffs Washington declared last month on nations worldwide, Pakistan faces a potential 29% tariff tax on its exports to the United States because of a $3 billion trade imbalance with the largest economy in the world.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb communicated over the phone earlier in the day to begin official talks on reciprocal tariffs, according to a press release from the finance ministry.
Trump declared that if the South Asian nation and its neighbor, India, went to war with one another, he would not be interested in reaching a settlement. The two nuclear-armed adversaries engaged in their deadliest combat in decades during four days of warfare this month, using fighter planes, missiles, drones, and artillery.
After leaving Air Force One, Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, “As you know, we’re very close making a deal with India.”
In an effort to move trade negotiations along, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal recently traveled to Washington. The two countries hope to reach an interim agreement by the beginning of July.
India’s shipments to the US are subject to 26% tariffs.
As India negotiates a trade agreement with Washington, it plans to allow US companies to bid on contracts worth more than $50 billion, primarily offered by federal organizations, Reuters reported last week.
