A high-level delegation of Sri Lankan officials will leave for the United States next week to discuss recent tariffs levelled against Sri Lankan goods by the US, Export Development Board Chairman/CEO Mangala Wijesinghe told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had appointed a committee on dealing with the US tariffs on April 3 and that the committee had submitted a report to the President on possible measures Sri Lanka could take to offset the negative impact of the increased US tariffs.
Although the tariffs were to be introduced from April 9, US President Donald Trump later announced a 90-day pause, except for a 10 percent across the board tariff on all countries.
“The report comprises a number of short-, medium- and long-term solutions,” Wijesinghe said.
He added that they had met US Embassy trade officials twice in Colombo. “We requested relief from the US officials because we are in the middle of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Sri Lanka needs to start repaying its loans from 2028, and for that we need to make rapid economic progress,” he said.
The committee on dealing with the US tariffs also decided that Sri Lanka needs to send a delegation to the United States to discuss the increased tariffs levelled against Sri Lankan goods, he said. “We have decided that the delegation will leave next week, but we have not decided on who is in the committee. The Government will decide who will be in the delegation,” he said.
One of the highest tariff rates – 44 percent was imposed on Sri Lanka, which sends 25 percent of its exports to the US. Only a few other countries such as Cambodia and Lesotho have a higher tariff rate.
Since then Sri Lanka has been engaged in efforts to assess the impact of US tariff revisions and initiate discussions with US in a bid to lower the tariffs imposed on the country’s exports. If the US President does not grant another reprieve, the increased tariffs will come into effect in July.
dailynews.lk
(This story, originally published by dailynews.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)
