ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed a zero-tariff bilateral trade agreement to the United States, aiming to strengthen economic ties and offset the impact of recent American tariffs on Pakistani exports, Geo News reported on Thursday, citing government sources.
“Pakistan is offering to enter into a bilateral agreement with zero tariffs on selected tariff lines, with mutual interests, to expand bilateral trade across multiple sectors,” a senior official, quoted by Geo News, stated when asked about the new offer to the US.
The move is seen as an effort to counter the economic strain caused by the recent US tariffs on Pakistani exports, which would reduce their competitiveness in the American market.
If accepted, the zero-tariff deal could significantly boost trade relations, offering a fresh opportunity for economic cooperation.
While some challenges may arise during negotiations, analysts believe the deal has strong potential to align with shared economic interests.
India ready for tariff-free deal
While speaking at a business forum in Doha earlier today, US President Donald Trump said that India has offered the US a trade deal with “literally zero tariffs”.
Trump said, “India has offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff.”
President Trump slapped tariffs of up to 27 percent on Indian goods in April. New Delhi is rushing to negotiate a trade deal during Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.
The two countries began trade talks following India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in February this year.
Both sides aim to seal the first phase of the deal by fall, with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal expected to visit the US between May 17 and 20 to push the negotiations forward.
However, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar responded to Trump’s assertion by saying that nothing has been decided yet.
“Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicated negotiations,” Jaishankar told reporters on Thursday.
“Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature.”
The US was, until recently, India’s biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190 billion.
New Delhi has already lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the US has a $45 billion trade deficit with India, which Trump wants to reduce.
US, China trade deal
On Monday, the United States and China reached an agreement to slash sky-high tariffs for 90 days.
Though both sides claimed they could withstand a long trade war, they reached a truce quicker than many analysts expected.
The breakthrough marked a dramatic ratcheting down of trade tensions following the tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump during his “liberation day” announcement on April 2.
US duties on Chinese products will now fall to 30 percent, while China’s tariffs on US goods will drop to 10 percent.
Trump initially unveiled reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries before pausing them just one week later.
China, however, did not get off the hook, and Beijing soon retaliated with tariffs of its own.
Tit-for-tat exchanges quickly snowballed into eye-watering sums. By April 11, tariffs on Chinese goods entering the US had reached 145 percent, and levies on US products going to China had swelled to 125 percent.
Tensions were already at a boiling point last weekend when US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and He Lifeng, China’s vice-premier, agreed a ceasefire that would slash respective tariffs by 115 percentage points for three months.
