President writes to Donald Trump over reciprocal tariffs

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera  

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake sent an official letter to US President Donald Trump over the recently imposed reciprocal tariffs on Sri Lankan exports to the US, Minister of Labour Anil Jayantha Fernando said yesterday.  

He told Parliament that the White House had acknowledged that the letter had been received.  The Minister said the President, in his letter, highlighted the possible ways of mitigating the impact and the actions that Sri Lanka can take while requesting for collaboration to reduce the tariffs. The Minister said this while responding to a question raised by MP Ravi Karunanayake.  

Refuting allegations that the government did not make effective intervention in the matter, Minister Fernando said the government has taken both proactive and reactive measures as necessary.  

“All risks and consequences have been assessed and taken into consideration. We have been in constant dialogue with the White House, the US Trade Representative Office. We brought to the notice of the IMF the significance of the issue as Sri Lanka is in an IMF EFF programme. The President appointed a committee regarding the matter. Some proposals have been proposed. We had a meeting with the US trade representatives on the possible option to mitigate the trade deficit,” he said.