Iraq unaffected by new Trump tariffs: PM advisor
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad will not be impacted by Washington's newly announced tariffs, as Iraq's only export to the United States - oil - is exempt, a financial advisor to the Iraqi prime minister said on Thursday.
"Iraq has no exports to the United States subject to customs tariffs other than crude oil," Mazhar Mohammed Salih, advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, told Rudaw, emphasizing that the impact of the tariffs on Iraq will be "zero" since oil and gas are spared from the US-imposed measures.
In an unprecedented move, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed a baseline 10 percent tariffs on dozens of countries, indiscriminately targeting US adversaries as well as allies in order to propel his protectionist policies.
'If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America,'
Trump said outside the White House.
He held up a poster board showing the tariff percentage each country would face. According to the poster, 39 percent tariffs will be imposed on exports from Iraq as the country has placed 78 percent custom tariffs on US-made goods and products.
'The tariffs will not be reciprocal. I could have done that, I guess. But it would have been tough for a lot of countries,' Trump said.
The financial advisor to the Iraqi prime minister underscored that Iraq's crude oil exports to the United States do not exceed 5 billion dollars annually, and the American market is 'secondary for Iraq compared to the Chinese and Indian markets, to which approximately 70 percent of Iraqi oil is exported."
Salih stated that the 2008 US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) has protected Iraq from severe U.S. sanctions. The pact, along with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), outlines cooperation in security, politics, and the economy. SOFA also set the timeline for US troop withdrawal after the 2003 invasion, shaping bilateral relations ever since.
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