Pakistan begins talks with US on Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, says finance minister’s adviser

Pakistan on Friday formally initiated talks with the United States (US) on the reciprocal tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump last month, the finance minister’s adviser said.

Trump imposed 29% reciprocal tariff on Pakistan, besides over 185 countries and territories, saying that Islamabad charges 58% tariff on goods imported from the US.

“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 May 30, 2025,” Khurram Schehzad said in a post on X.

“Both sides exchanged their viewpoint through a constructive engagement with the understanding that technical level detailed discussions would follow in the coming weeks.

“Both sides expressed confidence in advancing the negotiations for successful conclusion at the earliest,” he added.

Trump tariffs: US offers Pakistan to buy more cotton

In imposing the tariffs in early April, Trump called the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports, with higher rates for countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits, particularly China.

Many of those country-specific tariffs were paused a week later.

The Trump administration on May 12 said it was also temporarily reducing the steepest tariffs on China while working on a longer-term trade deal. Both countries agreed to cut tariffs on each other for at least 90 days.

This week, a US trade court blocked President Donald Trump’s tariffs from going into effect in a sweeping ruling that the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy.