COLOMBO – The Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka (EASL) has welcomed the decision of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to apply a 10% tariff on imports from Sri Lanka under the recently announced Section 301 measures.
“This is a significant and welcome development for Sri Lanka’s export sector, particularly in light of the substantially higher tariff rates that had been proposed previously. The final outcome helps preserve the competitiveness of Sri Lankan products in one of our most important export markets,” EASL said.
This decision places Sri Lanka on an equal footing with several key competitors, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia, it said, noting that maintaining tariff parity was critically important in highly competitive global markets where buyers make sourcing decisions based on very narrow cost differences.
Even a tariff differential of 2.5 percentage points can have a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s export competitiveness, particularly in sectors such as apparel, where margins are relatively thin and international buyers closely compare landed costs across competing sourcing destinations.
The current decision therefore provides much-needed certainty and helps ensure that Sri Lankan exporters remain competitive in the US market.
EASL said this was an opportunity to strengthen the long-term trade relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States.
The recent developments also demonstrate that international trade policies can evolve rapidly, creating uncertainty for exporters, it said, urging Sri Lanka to proactively pursue a comprehensive bilateral trade arrangement with the United States, with the objective of securing greater certainty, improving market access, and fostering stronger economic cooperation for the benefit of both countries.
-economynext.com
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