KARACHI: Exporters in Pakistan are in a fix after the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn President Trump’s tariff policy.

Exporters fear the uncertainty could hurt exports to the United States, which is the single largest destination for Pakistani goods.

Before the court’s decision, a tariff of 19 per cent was levied on Pakistan, along with an already existing 10pc duty. Thus, Pakistani traders had to pay a 29pc duty on products exported to the US.

The top court struck down President Trump’s tariffs, introduced under a law meant for use during emergencies, on Feb 20. But Trump hit back with the argument that other alternatives were available to him and declared a 10 per cent global tariff under a law different from the one at issue in this case.

Traders fear frequent changes in tariffs could hurt exports to US, the largest destination for goods from Pakistan

Exporters say that frequently changes in tariff policy had created an uncertainty for countries like Pakistan as the US has been running a trade deficit with these states for years.

“The frequent changes have left us confused and we don’t know how to deal with this uncertainty,” said Jawed Bilwani, a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said the industry is already groaning under a super tax which has enabled the government to extract a whopping Rs350 billion from this sector.

The State Bank has, however, come up with some relief by “substantially” reducing the interest rate on export financing. But the IMF and other lenders have disapproved of this facility, Mr Bilwani added.

Exporters said orders from the United States were in place, but the uncertain US tariff policy has created hurdles.

The US imposed a new tariff from Tuesday of 10pc on all goods not covered by exemptions. It faces a trade deficit of $1.2 trillion, making the current account deficit around four per cent of the GDP.

In FY25, Pakistan exported a total of $6 billion to the US, while exports during the first seven months of FY26 are slightly higher year-on-year.

Exports to the US in the first seven months were $3.69bn, compared to $3.56bn during the previous year.

Exporters said the data refers to old shipments, while the new orders now face uncertainty. They said the impact would be visible in the next fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2026