ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump said on Friday representatives from Pakistan are coming to the United States next week for trade talks, following a conversation between Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer to launch the process.
The talks come after US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on a number of countries earlier this year, a move widely viewed as a setback for the global economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan faces a potential 29% tariff, currently under a 90-day pause announced in April, on its exports to the United States due to a $3 billion trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy.
“As you know, we’re very close making a deal with India,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews after departing Air Force One.
The US is Pakistan’s largest export destination and the new duties threatened to undermine Islamabad’s fragile economic recovery.
Finance Minister Aurangzeb described the beginning of trade talks with the US as both a challenge and an opportunity to reset trade ties, according to his ministry.
“Pakistan’s formal negotiations on US reciprocal tariffs kick-started between Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s Finance Minister, and Ambassador Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative through a telephonic/conference call on 30th May, 2025,” it said.
“The two sides exchanged their viewpoint through a constructive engagement with the understanding that technical level detailed discussions would follow in the coming few weeks.”
According to Pakistan’s central bank, the country exported $5.44 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024. From July to February of the current fiscal year, exports to the US reached $4 billion, up 10 percent from the same period last year.
Nearly 90 percent of those exports are textiles, which analysts say will be hardest hit.
Experts have also warned previously the tariffs could reduce Pakistan’s competitiveness, especially if regional exporters such as China, Bangladesh and Vietnam redirect more goods to Europe, intensifying competition in alternative markets.
With additional input from Reuters
