Pakistan may send delegation to US to discuss Trump's tariffs

Pakistan plans to send a government delegation to Washington this month to discuss how to avoid the 29% tariffs imposed by the US on imports from Pakistan, officials said on Monday.

The development came two days after Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif asked its finance minister to send him recommendations for resolving the issue. The US imports around $5 billion worth of textiles and other products from Pakistan, which heavily relies on loans from the International Monetary Fund and others.

Earlier, Pakistan Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, while responding to the changing US trade policy and tariffs under Trump's administration, said that Pakistan intends to send a high-level delegation to Washington to convey its commitment to a long-term strategic partnership.

 "In the next couple of days, we are going to finalize our recommendations to the prime minister and ….. with approval of PM, we intend to send a high level delegation to Washington to get our views across and to ensure that we want to be a partner, which is a long term strategic partner," the minister said while addressing a press conference.

 He said, two committees were constituted including a steering group, led by Finance Minister and a working group, headed by the Secretary of Commerce, and there were meetings over the last couple of days and will continue with a view to transform challenges into opportunities.

"You should never let good crisis go to waste. We are looking it both challenge as well as opportunity," he said adding the government was constructively engaged and was working on a package and when finalised, it can go forward for discussion with US administration.

He said, Pakistan wanted to make sure to have win-win situation in medium to long terms for both the counties. He said US was very important strategic partner and was also the largest trading partner in terms of exports which go to the US. 

The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell rapidly on Monday. The exchange suspended trading for an hour after a 5% drop in its main KSE-30 index.

Agencies