Trump’s tariff: Pakistan officials in ‘continuous contact’ with US authorities, says Commerce minister

Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan on Monday said Pakistan officials were in continuous contact with the United States (US) authorities over the 29% reciprocal tariff imposed on Pakistan.

Last week, US President Donald Trump ignited a potentially ruinous trade war as he slapped tariffs on imports from around the world and harsh additional levies even on key trading partners.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said as he announced up to 50% reciprocal tariffs on a number of countries, including the country’s biggest trading partners.

In a notification on Friday, Pakistan government summoned a meeting of stakeholders on Monday (today) to analyse possible impact of the US tariff on Pakistani products.

Govt actively working on a comprehensive strategy aimed at achieving a mutually beneficial outcome with the United States.

Jam Kamal Khan chaired the meeting today with top exporters from a wide range of sectors to discuss Pakistan’s strategy and response.

The meeting was attended by representatives from all major export industries, including textiles, garments, leather, surgical instruments, services, fruits and vegetables, rice, footwear, and more, according to a statement from the Commerce ministry on Monday.

“This broad participation underscored the need for a coordinated national effort to navigate global trade challenges,” it said.

“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,” the minister was quoted as saying in the statement.

He assured exporters of the government’s full support, emphasising that the government was “actively working on a comprehensive strategy aimed at achieving a mutually beneficial outcome with the United States”.

Jam Kamal Khan said the private sector would play a key role in shaping the strategy, as he sought input from exporters and industry representatives to help craft a robust, forward-looking strategy.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted on Friday a working group to analyse the US reciprocal tariff in terms of their applicability on Pakistan exports to US on each affected tariff line, propose measures for tariff rationalisation for subsequent trade negotiations with Washington, and propose initiatives to mitigate impact of higher US tariffs for Pakistani exports, as per a notification from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

More than 50 nations have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks since US President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping new tariffs, top US officials told Reuters on Sunday as they defended levies that wiped out nearly $6 trillion in value from US stocks and downplayed economic fallout.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index also witnessed a meltdown, declining over 5% during intra-day trading on Monday before staging a partial recovery to close the session over 3% down.