ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Commerce has devised a four-point strategy as aresponse to India’s trade ban of Pakistan.
India has withdrawn the Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) status from Pakistanwhile closing the bilateral trade following the Pulwama terror incident. Ithas also imposed 200 percent duty on the imports from Pakistan, in otherwords shutting down Pakistani exports to India.
In a tit-for-tat response, Pakistan has decided to place as much as 90Indian products on the negative list. This step alone will curtail India’sexports of up to $500-600 million. In addition, Pakistan will also impose200 percent regulatory duty on Indian products.
Not only this, but the government is deliberating on imposing a ban onIndian items being exported to Afghanistan under the Transit TradeAgreement.
According to the ministry officials, withdrawal of the MFN status will notaffect Pakistan. Numerous non-tariff barriers and restrictive tariff regimewere already in place, preventing Pakistan to have free access to theIndian market.
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In fact, this trade war will impact India more, as its exports to Pakistanamount $1.8 billion while Pakistan’s exports constituted $350 million worthof products.
The ministry shall present the strategy before the National SecurityCouncil for approval.
