Pakistan to offer US more cotton, soybeans

Pakistan will offer to buy more cotton and soybeans from the United States as it seeks to halve its trade surplus and avoid tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The South Asian country wants to cut the trade imbalance to less than $2 billion from about $4 billion in the current fiscal year.

Pakistan is the second-largest buyer of U.S. cotton after China, and sells mostly clothing and textiles to America, its largest export market. Discussions over volumes and products are still ongoing, and any proposal presented in formal talks with the U.S. could change, experts say.

“We will try to reduce the high tariff rates through negotiations because the U.S. is a big market for Pakistan,” Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan told Bloomberg last week. “We are optimistic.”

Edible oils account for the largest share of Pakistan’s food imports, worth $3 billion a year. Earlier, the country began developing a roadmap to stop importing oils to balance the trade balance. The strategic policy on vegetable oils, as the country’s authorities noted, should give priority to domestic production of oilseeds such as sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans.

Tags: Pakistan, soybean, USA