Sri Lanka's apparel industry alarmed by US tariff of 30%, hopes for cut
COLOMBO, July 10 (Reuters) - Distress is in store for Sri Lanka's garments sector if the island nation is unable to clinch a tariff lower than the 30% figure U.S. President Donald Trump has clamped on imports from Colombo, a top industry body warned on Thursday.
The United States takes about 40% of apparel exports, helping to pull in $1.9 billion last year and make the industry Sri Lanka's third largest earner of foreign exchange, employing 300,000 people, most of them women.
"If this is the end number, Sri Lanka is in trouble because our competitors, such as Vietnam, have received lower tariffs," Yohan Lawrence, of the Joint Apparel Associations Forum (JAAF) representing the largest apparel companies, told Reuters. -
https://www.reuters.com/en/sri-lankas-apparel-industry-alarmed-by-us-tariff-30-hopes-cut-2025-07-10/
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"
But we are hopeful we can continue discussions."
In a letter on Wednesday,
Trump notified President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the 30% tariff from August 1, a rate well above the 20% levy faced by competitor Vietnam.
The U.S. tariff on neighbouring Bangladesh, another major South Asian garment exporter, was set at 35%, though the levy on India, also a big U.S. supplier, has not yet been unveiled.