On the 31st of July, 2025 President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order declaring reciprocal tariff rates for all trading partners of the United States.
Sri Lanka’s reciprocal tariff rate was declared at 44% on the 2nd of April, 2025 and consequently reduced on the strength of the negotiations undertaken by the Sri Lankan delegation, to 30% on the 9th of April, 2025. The Sri Lankan delegation continued intensive negotiations with the Office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) coordinated and facilitated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C. As a consequence of concrete advances made by the negotiation team under the guidance of His Excellency President Anura Kumara Disanayaka, President Trump in his Executive Order of 31st of July, 2025 reduced further Sri Lanka’s reciprocal tariff rate to 20% thereby enabling Sri Lanka to continue to maintain her competitive advantage in the US market and safeguard its market share in a variety of exports to the United States.
The US market is Sri Lanka’s largest single market for exports in the world and accounted for 3.15 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. The US market represents over 25% of Sri Lanka’s exports globally.
