• Discussions with US underway to secure duty-free access for a significant portion of local goods
• Delegation to visit US for final talks ahead of 1 Aug. deadline, to further reduce recently imposed 30% tariff

Sri Lanka is in discussions to get zero tariffs on 80% of the HS codes exported to the US as part of the trade deal between the two nations, Economic Development Deputy Minister Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando said.

Speaking to TVDerana yesterday (17), he said that the US has offered a list of 1,161 goods that are being exported to the US from Sri Lanka and has offered a zero tariff on 80% of those goods.

He said that the talks are still ongoing on this matter and have not finalised a deal; hence, the government did not make the goods that will receive zero tariffs public.

Moreover, he said that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called the exporters to the Presidential Secretariat to confirm the list of HS codes given by the US and see if there are other HS codes not included in the list.

“We are also discussing the list of goods for which we can give zero tariffs for the US,” he said.

Fernando said that Sri Lanka’s tariffs on US imports vary between 0-20% and since the imports only amount to about $ 300 million annually, reducing those tariffs won’t have a much impact on government tax revenue.

Sri Lanka exports about 25% of its total exports to the US, while the apparel sector sends 65% of its total exports to the US.

On 9 July, Sri Lanka was officially informed that the US would impose a 30% reciprocal tariff on all goods imported from the country, from the initial 44% taking the average tariff on apparel exports to 42%.

A delegation team from Sri Lanka will leave for the US today to continue the discussions on the trade deal before the 1 August deadline.