Trump, Pakistan Strike Oil Partnership Deal Amid Trade Agreement Breakthrough
According to the president, Pakistan and the United States would collaborate to develop their enormous oil reserves.
A new agreement between the US and Pakistan for the cooperative exploitation of Pakistan’s oil reserves was revealed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
This development is probably going to have an impact on the two nations’ ongoing trade talks. President Trump said, “We have just concluded a deal with the country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive oil reserves,” in a post on his social media network, Truth Social.
The United States is currently choosing a business to spearhead the project, he continued. He said, “Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling oil to India someday.”
The declaration is a component of the US administration’s larger effort to establish new trade alliances. Trump wrote, “We are working on trade deals in the White House today.”
“I’ve talked to a lot of leaders, and they all want to make the United States ‘extremely happy.'” He claimed that a number of nations were now putting forth plans to lower tariffs.
He asserted, “All of this will help reduce our trade deficit in a very major way,” and promised to issue a comprehensive report “at the appropriate time.”
The action comes after Pakistan recently exempted foreign technology businesses from paying a five percent tax on products and services sold online, a move that was largely seen as a gesture of goodwill towards Washington.
In keeping with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s travel to Washington, where he is negotiating to settle unresolved issues impeding a more comprehensive trade agreement, the Federal Board of Revenue publicly announced the exemption on Wednesday.
Following his meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar stated last week that the United States and Pakistan were “very close” to a trade agreement that could be finalised in a matter of days.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on other nations over what he claims are unfair trade relations, and Washington has tried to renegotiate trade accords with these nations.
Trump had already said that imports from India would now be subject to a 25% tariff. Additionally, he alluded to an undisclosed “penalty” for India’s continued purchases of Russian energy and weapons.
The revised rate is still greater than tariffs levied on other Asian countries that have preliminary deals with Washington, although it is marginally lower than the April proposal.
By attempting to use US economic might to impose tariffs on trading partners and compel international businesses to relocate to the US, Trump has set out to completely upend the world economy.
In addition to the agreement with the 27-nation EU, he has also revealed deal outlines with five other countries: Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Britain.
This week, in Stockholm, US and Chinese officials discussed extending a trade truce that had temporarily reduced tariffs from skyrocketing triple-digit levels.
Both parties are looking for an extension before the August 12 deadline, even though no agreement was made at the discussions. Trump, meanwhile, declared 50% tariffs on Brazil, partly to exert pressure on the South American ally to halt the trial of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro on charges of coup.
Source: The Express Tribune
