- Pakistan’s exports to the US stand at $3.6 bn against $2.8 bn imports
- Islamabad would have to lobby and market its products in Washington, experts say
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been formulating a strategy to increase its exports to the United States after Washington announced on Monday that it will strip India of its preferential market access that exempted Indian exports worth billions of dollars from American tariffs, officials said on Friday.
“Pakistan’s trade balance with the United States is already much better, and we have been trying to sign a Free Trade Agreement to enhance the volume of our exports,” Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a member of the government’s Economic Advisory Council, told Arab News.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative said on Monday that India would no longer be eligible for preferential market access to the United States. Following the development, Pakistani officials began to find ways to fill the void by getting a preferential market access from the United States.
Businessmen and financial experts, however, urge the government to increase and diversify its exports to capture the US market.
Pakistan was the 55th largest supplier of goods to the United States in 2017 with the total exports worth $3.6 billion, while the imports from the US were $2.8 billion in the same period. Pakistan’s main exports to the US include textile articles, knit apparel, woven apparel, leather products, cotton, and agricultural products.
Khan said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was focused on trade partnership with leading countries of the world, including the United States. “The real issue at the moment is to increase our production and value addition … we will be able to increase our exports to the US only if we have enough production in the first place,” he added.
Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum, Jawed Bilwani said that Pakistan was exporting a “good number” of textile articles, including knitwear and woven apparels, to the United States and “this could be trebled easily if we succeed in getting a preferential market access to the US.”
“Pakistan must ensure while negotiating the FTA with the US that it helps increase our exports and the trade balance remains in our favor,” he told Arab News.
Bilwani urged the government to offer “lucrative incentives” to local and foreign investors to set up new industries to increase the country’s production line for exports and capture the international market with quality goods.
Pakistan has been benefitting from tariff preferences (mostly zero duties on two-thirds of all product categories) under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus arrangement awarded by the European Union since January 2014. This has helped Islamabad increase its exports by 13 percent so far.
Dr. Athar Ahmad, a senior economist and expert on international marketing, said that the US’ abolishment of preferential market access to India will not automatically benefit Pakistan.