Pakistan Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, left for his second visit to the United States in two weeks to finalize a trade agreement with Washington, announced his office on Monday.
The trip comes after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar, said on Friday that the United States and Pakistan were “very close” to a trade agreement that could come in a few days, but comments from the United States after Dar met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not mention any calendar.
Read: DAR, Rubio discuss the commercial prices during the phone call
“A final discussion on the Pakistani trade dialogue will take place during the visit,” Pakistan’s finance ministry said in a statement, adding that a trade agreement will benefit the two countries.
Aurangzeb said that he had organized “productive commercial discussions” during meetings with the US trade secretary Howard Lutnick and the US representative of Ambassador Jamieson Greer during his previous visit on July 18.
Negotiations, focused on reciprocal prices, are part of a broader thrust to reset economic ties at a time of displacement of geopolitical alignments and Islamabad efforts to avoid steep American tasks on exports.
Pakistan faces a 29% tariff on exports to the United States under President Donald Trump’s measures to target countries with major trade surpluses with Washington.
The surplus of Pakistan was around $ 3 billion in 2024.
Learn more: DAR American visits take place for stronger commercial links
To compensate for imbalance and facilitate pricing pressures, Islamabad proposed to import more American goods, including crude oil, and to open investment opportunities thanks to concessions for American companies in the mining sector of Pakistan.
American-Pakistani relations experienced a major boost when Trump welcomed the Marshal from Pakistan Asim to the White House last month for an unprecedented meeting.
Pakistan aims to extend bilateral trade relations in traditional and non -traditional sectors, the Ministry of Finance said.
There is an important potential for partnerships in key sectors such as information technologies, minerals and agriculture, he added.
