Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Pakistan hopes to address its trade imbalance with the U.S. by buying more American goods, including cotton and soybean, as well as removing non-tariff barriers to end the imposition of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs.
In an interview to Bloomberg News from Washington, where he’s attending spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank, Aurangzeb said the country desires foreign direct investments from the U.S. firms for its minerals development. Additionally, he said, the country is preparing to debut its first-ever Panda bond in the range of $200 million to $250 million this year.
The minister said Pakistan is trying to rebuild its economy after coming close to default in 2023, adding it would formally engage with Washington on the tariffs issue next month. “Pakistan is looking to buy more cotton and soybean from the U.S.,” he said. “We can also look at if there are any issues with respect to non-tariff discussion, whether there are any onerous inspections at our end for U.S. products, we can obviously view that,” he added.
Earlier this month, Trump had imposed 29 percent “reciprocal” tariffs on Pakistan before suspending them for 90 days to allow for negotiations for a trade deal. Pakistan hopes to avoid the tariffs as the U.S. is its largest export market with over $5 billion in annual exports as of 2024.