Sri Lanka and the United States have been in talks for increased exports of more Sri Lankan products to the US market under the General System of Preferences (GSP) arrangement - a system to support the export from the developing economies.

According to a report on Colombopage, Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States, held discussions with Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for South and Central Asia, Christopher Wilson, and reviewed bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Sri Lanka seeks an increase in the number of its export products to the US market under the GSP. 

As of 2019, while the USA ranked as the number one destination with a share of 27% of Sri Lanka’s exports, apparel ware which constitutes 75% of Sri Lanka’s exports to the US does not enjoy GSP. Only 25% of Sri Lanka’s exports to the US benefited from US GSP. These include mainly rubber products, activated carbon, and coir products.

Officials of both countries also discussed the schedule for the 14th Session of the SL-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) meeting.

The last meeting of the same was convened in Colombo in 2019, and the 14th Meeting of the Joint Council, which was to be held in Washington DC in 2020, was postponed due to the pandemic situation.