Pakistan sees US trade doubling to $20 billion in five years

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government is betting it can double trade with the United States to $20 billion within five years, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said, as Islamabad steps up efforts to attract American capital following last year’s International Monetary Fund bailout.

Dar made the pledge Tuesday in Islamabad to a visiting bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers and business executives, framing deeper economic ties as central to the relationship between the two countries. Goods trade between Pakistan and the US reached $9.4 billion in the last fiscal year, according to Dar, who called the figure encouraging but well short of potential.

“We are confident that we can double bilateral trade to $20 billion over the next five years by fully harnessing the complementarity of our economies,” Dar told the gathering, which included US Representatives Ryan Zinke and Michael Baumgartner, Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker and corporate leaders.

The US is Pakistan’s largest single-country export market. Dar said Pakistan remains among the largest buyers of American cotton and soybeans while becoming an increasingly important destination for US hydrocarbon exports. He pointed to rising Pakistani demand for advanced machinery, technology and capital goods as an opening for US manufacturers, and said the two countries were pursuing cooperation across information technology, artificial intelligence, energy, critical minerals, manufacturing, agriculture and defense.

More than 80 US companies already operate in Pakistan, which Dar cited as evidence of investor confidence in the country’s market and long-term prospects. He urged the delegation to pursue deals through the Special Investment Facilitation Council, a body Islamabad set up as a one-window channel for foreign investment approvals.

Dar said the government has cut bureaucratic hurdles, simplified licensing and shortened approval timelines to make Pakistan more attractive to foreign capital, alongside upgrades to transport and logistics infrastructure. Islamabad is prepared to offer competitive incentives, including through special economic zones and technology parks, to draw additional US investment, he said.

The foreign minister singled out the US Export-Import Bank’s $1.25 billion financing package for the Reko Diq copper-and-gold project as a marker of growing international confidence in Pakistan’s economy, and said he expects it to be followed by further American investment. He also voiced hope for continued backing from the US International Development Finance Corporation and the US Trade and Development Agency, and pledged that Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in the US would remain available to assist investors.

Dar credited President Donald Trump’s administration with helping broker a ceasefire between Pakistan and India after tensions escalated in May 2025, and thanked Washington separately for its role in facilitating the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding that ended hostilities between the US and Iran in June. He said Pakistan would continue backing dialogue and diplomacy as the most durable route to regional and international stability.

Zinke and Baumgartner separately met with Dar to discuss expanding cooperation in trade, investment, IT and energy, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office. The delegation credited the Pakistani diaspora in the US as a link between the two countries and welcomed Islamabad’s role in regional diplomacy, the Foreign Office said. Both sides emphasized the value of continued exchanges between lawmakers in reinforcing the relationship.

The two US representatives also met Monday with Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir to discuss economic collaboration between the two countries.