IN an encouraging development, senior leaders of Pakistan and the United States have expressed their resolve to strengthen bilateral relations in the realm of economy, trade, investment, security and counter-terrorism.
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had an extensive telephonic conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday where they discussed US reciprocal tariffs on Pakistan and how to make progress towards a fair and balanced trade relationship.
During the call, Dar reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with the United States and emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and counterterrorism and the Secretary of State reciprocated by declaring that cooperation in economy and trade would be the hallmark of future relations between the two countries.
Understandably, there was no quick fix to the issue of additional tariffs on Pakistani exports by the United States but the willingness to sort out the irritant through dialogue augurs well for bilateral relations.
The call from Marco Rubio came as Pakistan prepares to send a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss the United States recent decision to impose a 29 percent tariff on Pakistani goods in an attempt to reset trade ties.
Presently, internal discussions are in progress to analyze the impact and explore ways and means to ensure exports to the US are not affected and instead move towards a win-win situation.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a task force on an emergent basis to analyze the US reciprocal tariff in terms of their applicability on Pakistani exports to the US on each affected tariff line, propose measures for tariff rationalization for subsequent trade negotiations with Washington and propose initiatives to mitigate impact of higher US tariffs for Pakistani exports.
It is also significant to note that the government is taking all stakeholders on board on this critical issue and as part of the exercise Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal convened a meeting on Monday with top exporters from a wide range of sectors to discuss Pakistan’s strategy and response.
The Minister told the participants of the meeting that our trade officers and ambassadors in the US are in continuous contact with the relevant authorities to ensure that Pakistan’s concerns are effectively communicated, adding the relevant officials are also working on a comprehensive strategy aimed at achieving a mutually beneficial outcome with the United States.
Hopefully, there will be forward movement on the issue during the planned visit of the Pakistani delegation to the United States, which must be equipped with relevant facts and figures to make a convincing case for revision by American authorities.
Apart from taking up the issue with the United States, as is being done by a majority of the countries affected by President Trump’s excessive tariff plan, we should also focus our attention on diversification of exports and explore new markets for our goods and services.
The telephonic conversation between the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister was yet another indication that the two countries were moving steadily to sort out this and other issues of concern to both nations.
The issue of left over American weapons in Afghanistan has added to the security woes of Pakistan as these weapons are used during terrorist attacks in the country by Afghanistan-based terrorist outfits.
In this backdrop, it is important to note that the two leaders, during their telephonic interaction, agreed to resolve the issue of leftover arms.
The Secretary of State made special mention of and appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against terrorism and expressed the US desire to further enhance counterterrorism cooperation and this commitment assumes significance as Islamabad seeks regional and global cooperation to bolster its fight against the menace of terrorism, taking heavy toll in terms of both men and material.
