New York/Islamabad, July 31: US President Donald Trump has announced sealing a trade deal with Pakistan and said that Washington will work with Islamabad to develop what he described as the South Asian nation’s “massive oil reserves”.
It is not immediately clear what massive oil reserves in Pakistan Trump was referring to.
In a social media post, the US President also wondered if Pakistan could sell oil to India “some day”.
“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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday.
“We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling oil to India some day!” he added.
Pakistan has long claimed to have large oil deposits along its coast, but no progress has been made to tap those deposits. It has been trying to lure in investments to tap into these reserves.
The country currently imports oil from the Middle East to meet its energy demands.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to social media on Thursday to thank Trump over the “historic” trade agreement and expressed hope that it would expand cooperation between the two sides.
“I wish to convey my profound thanks to President Trump @realDonaldTrump for his leadership role in finalization of the historic US-Pakistan trade agreement, successfully concluded by our two sides in Washington, last night,” he wrote on X.
“This landmark deal will enhance our growing cooperation so as to expand the frontiers of our enduring partnership in days to come,” he said.
The deal was reached during a meeting between Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer in Washington, DC, according to Radio Pakistan.
The trade agreement aims at boosting bilateral trade, expanding market access, attracting investment and fostering cooperation in areas of mutual interest, the report said.
“The agreement will result in a reduction of reciprocal tariffs especially on Pakistani exports to the United States. This deal marks the beginning of a new era of economic collaboration especially in energy, mines and minerals, IT, cryptocurrency and other sectors,” it added.
The announcement came hours after Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from India, plus an additional unspecified penalty for purchases of Russian military equipment and energy.
In a social media post, Trump called India’s trade policies “most strenuous and obnoxious”.
“All things not good! India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25 per cent, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August first,” Trump said.
During the day, he spoke multiple times about the tariffs that India imposes and referred to India’s membership in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping, which he described as “anti-US”.
Responding to a question on negotiations with India, Trump said Washington is talking to Delhi. “…We are going to see, we’re negotiating with India right now,” he said, while calling India’s tariff “one of the highest tariffs in the world”.
Trump said the White House has been “very busy” working on trade deals, and he will be meeting with the South Korean trade delegation.
“Likewise, other Countries are making offers for a Tariff reduction. All of this will help reduce our Trade Deficit in a very major way. A full report will be released at the appropriate time,” he said.
India said it has “taken note” of Trump’s statement on bilateral trade and the Government is studying its implications.
“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,” the statement said.
Trump has set the August 1 date for his tariffs to go into effect. (PTI)
