US and Pakistan reach agreement on oil reserves

2025-08-01 14:48:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

This progress between the United States and Pakistan comes less than a day after Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on India, Islamabad's historic rival.

President Donald Trump said a deal has been reached with Pakistan for the United States to help expand Islamabad's oil reserves. Pakistan says the deal will lower U.S. tariffs on its exports.

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday evening that he has reached a deal with Pakistan that includes Washington's help to develop the South Asian country's oil reserves. "We have just reached an agreement with Pakistan, under which Pakistan and the United States will work together to develop their vast oil reserves," Trump wrote on his social media account, Truth Social.

Pakistan said the agreement would result in lower tariffs on its exports to the United States.

The country's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, confirmed the agreement in a statement.

"Pakistan is reaching an agreement with the United States," he wrote on the X platform, without providing further details.

The details of the agreement between the United States and Pakistan remain unclear.

Details of the deal, including the agreed-upon tariff rate and the oil reserves Trump referred to, were not immediately clear.

Trump did not mention tariffs in the announcement.

"We are in the process of selecting the oil company that will lead this partnership," the US president said. In April, Pakistan faced a potential 29% increase in US tariffs, which were then suspended for 90 days to allow for trade negotiations.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Finance Minister, Mohammad Aurangzeb, said he had held meetings with senior US officials in Washington and called the deal a "win-win" for both his country and the United States.

Aurangzeb is visiting the US capital for the second time in two weeks for what he called the final phase of negotiations on a tariff agreement.

"From our perspective, this has always been about more than an immediate commercial imperative, and its objective was, and remains, that trade and investment go hand in hand," he said in a video released by Pakistan's Finance Ministry.

25% tariff on India

This development between the United States and Pakistan comes less than a day after Washington imposed 25% tariffs on India, Islamabad's historic rival.

The United States imposed these tariffs and other financial sanctions, which will take effect on August 1, on trade between India and Russia, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Trump criticized the Russian and Indian economies, adding that the latter had one of the highest tariffs in the world.

"I don't care what India does with Russia. They can sink their dying economies together, I don't care."

"We have very little trade with India; their tariffs are very high, among the highest in the world," he said.

While announcing the oil partnership with Pakistan, the US president also suggested that Islamabad could sell oil to New Delhi "one day".

"Who knows, maybe one day they'll sell oil to India!" Trump wrote./ DW