US President Donald Trump said on Friday that representatives from Pakistan are coming to the United States next week as Islamabad seeks to make a deal on tariffs.
Pakistan faces a potential 29 per cent tariff on its exports to the US due to a $3 billion trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy, under tariffs announced by Washington last month on countries around the world.
Pakistan’s formal negotiations with the United States on reciprocal tariffs started earlier in the day with a phone call between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a press release from the finance ministry said.
Trump said he would have no interest in making a deal with Pakistan or India, if they were to engage in war with each other.
The developments follow a recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad, without evidence, about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
New Delhi, based on the allegations, launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan in early May, killing civilians. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India on May 8 and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.
“As you know, we’re very close making a deal with India,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews after departing Air Force One.
