- Talks ongoing after 44% tariff threat from US
- Minister says both sides motivated to resolve dispute
- No new travel planned for negotiations yet
- Focus on clarifying trade flows and addressing disparities
Both the United States and the Sri Lankan Government are motivated to reach an agreement within 90 days with respect to the 44% reciprocal tariffs imposed on Sri Lanka, according to the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe revealed that talks were ongoing between the Government and the US delegation aimed at reaching an amicable settlement on the perceived trade disparities between the two countries, in an effort to avoid the implementation of the 44% reciprocal tariffs imposed on Sri Lanka.
He claimed that both countries were motivated to iron out an agreement that was mutually agreeable, prior to the expiration of the 90-day moratorium on the imposition of the US’s reciprocal tariffs.
“Both the US and Sri Lanka are motivated to reach an agreement within 90 days. We expressed our ideas and they have expressed theirs. Discussions are continuously ongoing. We had discussions with them even yesterday (7) at the official level,” he stated.
Responding to a query on whether a Sri Lankan delegation would be flying to the US again for discussions, he stated that there were no such plans at present, adding that “depending on the progress of discussions, either we may go there (to the US) or they might come here”.
He further revealed that discussions with the US had proved to be extremely positive.
Commenting further, he said that during the discussions with the US delegation, they had been able to set out “our ideas, our position, what we are exporting to them, and what we are importing from them”.
In addition, he stated that through these discussions, both nations had been able to get an accurate image of the trade relations between the two countries and the underlying issues.
On 2 April, US President Donald Trump announced a 44% reciprocal tariff on Sri Lanka based on a particular calculation which alleged that Sri Lanka had been imposing 88% tariffs on US exports. However, thereafter, the implementation of the reciprocal tariffs was delayed by 90 days.