Sri Lanka's garments sector is pinning its hopes on further discussions with the U.S. government after Donald Trump's administration's 30% tariff on the nation has placed it at a disadvantage to some of its biggest rivals.

Sri Lanka would continue to engage with the US for a “mutually beneficial” outcome on tariffs, a top finance ministry official said on Thursday, after Washington imposed a 30 per cent tariff on all Sri Lankan imports to the country.

Trump on April 2 proposed a 20% tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50% after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked, only to return to the 10% baseline. The EU has 27 member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a round of tariff letters to seven countries, including Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday described the proposed 30% tax on Sri Lankan imports to the US as opposed to 44% mooted earlier was a “significant step.” ..

Charging taxes on HS Code for thousands for small parcels coming from foreign online sales platforms is not practical, and goes against modern cross-border trading that is working well in other countries,