Deputy Minister of Industry Chaturanga Abeysinghe has commented on the new tariffs imposed by the US President. He says that this tariff was imposed unilaterally.
He said that when he woke up in the morning, he learned through the news that America had imposed a 44% tariff on Sri Lanka and that this situation is a big problem.
Posting on his social media account, he said,
The US President explains the reason for this action very well. Everyone should listen to that story, in that story he explains how the advice given by the world to small countries until now has been a lesson for America and how America will intervene in international trade from now on to protect its domestic industries and citizens.
This new tax seems at first glance to be half of the tax that each country is charging on American goods, which is a very reasonable thing to do, so it is like asking other countries to remove their taxes. Usually, it is not wrong for those who write about everything in the book to think that way at first. But it is not true.
The United States made one assumption in creating this tax, and that is that the reason for the negative trade balance with other countries is taxes and non-tax sanctions, and the solution to that is to increase tariffs and come up with a unilateral solution.
This tax is not something that was negotiated with each country, but rather something that was done strategically to start negotiations.”