March 31, 2025 – April 6, 2025 | Vol.15, #14
Events: On April 2, President Donald Trump announced he was signing an executive order “instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries worldwide. Reciprocal – that means they do it to us and we do it to them.”[1][2]
On April 3, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed a committee to conduct an in-depth study on potential issues that may arise due to the new reciprocal tariff system introduced by the U.S. president.[3][4]
On April 7, Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayantha and Finance and Planning Deputy Minister Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma revealed that the government has engaged with the U.S. to mitigate the impact of proposed tariffs.[5][6] During the media briefing, the government yesterday confirmed that the U.S. has officially requested to propose ways to reduce Sri Lanka’s trade deficit with the U.S.[7][8]
On April 4, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi arrived in Sri Lanka for a two-day visit.[9][10] During the visit, several projects were inaugurated and defence and energy agreements were signed by President Dissanayake and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[11][12][13]
Key insights: The NPP, in contrast to its past, is seen to have shifted towards an outward-facing approach, where international...