Karachi roads, Pakistan, dated 2022
Muhammad aqib | Moment | Getty images
Countries around the world have felt the pressure of prices imposed on their exports to the United States, as well as trade tensions between the largest superpowers in the world.
Pakistan is no exception.
President Donald Trump had imposed a 29% of duties on all exports in the South Asian country in the United States on April 2. He has since lowered the obligation to 10%, as part of his 90 -day break on the prices imposed on certain countries and goods.
The weighted average price on American exports to Pakistan is around 7%, said Pakistan Federal Minister for Finance and Income, Muhammad Aurangzeb said. Conversely, the average weighted price on imports from us from Pakistan is around 10%, he noted.
“We export a little more than $ 5 billion (and) to import approximately 2 billion dollars more,” Arangzeb in CNBC told the Spring Meetings of the Bank of the IMF world.
He added that Pakistan is now trying to get involved with the United States to “fill this gap”.
Imports from the country from the United States include “high quality cotton”, as well as other agricultural products such as soy beans, noted the minister. In the future, he believes that trade between the two countries could include metals such as copper, which Pakistan produces.
“From Pakistan’s point of view, the United States has been a very strategic partner-one of our largest trading partners. Consequently, we want, very constructively, engaging with the United States,” said Aurangzeb.
United States or China?
When asked if Pakistan planned to pivot more towards China, the Minister of Finance replied that the South Asian nation is not inclined to choose a country rather than to the other.
“From where I sit and where the government is … both are very critical and strategic allies for Pakistan.”
By touching China, Aurangzeb noted that it had a “long -standing relationship” with Pakistan.
For example, Pakistan was active in the belt and road belt and road initiative which involves the construction of infrastructure projects of several billion dollars across countries.
A key project of the initiative is the Chinese-Pakistani economic corridor that has seen China invests more than $ 65 billion in Pakistan, including in the port of Gwadar which provides the West Xinjiang region in China with a gateway to the Oman Sea.
