Kingdom to negotiate with US for further tariff reduction

Kingdom to negotiate with US for further tariff reduction

Cambodia hopes for lower tariff rate on garments, footwear, and travel goods to increase its competitive advantage in exports.

Cambodia will negotiate with the United States to reduce further tariffs for some priority sectors to below the current reciprocal tariff rate of 19 percent, said Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and the First Vice Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), on Friday.

The tariff reduction is to lower the tariff rate mainly on the garments, footwear, and travel goods to increase Cambodia’s competitive advantage in exports, Chanthol said at the closing ceremony of the Ministry of Commerce’s annual meeting.

“We will continue to negotiate with the United States to provide more tariff reductions on products in the garment, footwear, and travel goods sectors,” he said.

He expressed optimism that exports of garments, footwear, and travel (GFT) goods to the US market could be lower than the 19 percent tariff rate because the United States is not a producer of goods in this sector.

“Achieving zero percent would be very good because the US lacks resources in this sector. We do not believe the US will resort to making bags and cutting clothes. Therefore, in this sector, we are urging the US to consider reducing this reciprocal tariff rate,” he said.

On August 1, 2025, the US reduced the reciprocal tariff rate from 49 percent to 19 percent, and Cambodia decided to implement a zero percent tariff rate on goods originally imported from the United States and imported into the Kingdom.

Cambodia’s export to the US was mostly products, including goods such as footwear, travel goods, bicycles and furniture under the trade preference, under the Most-Favoured Nation status.

The Kingdom’s imports include automobiles, machinery, electrical appliances and electronics.

The US remains the Kingdom’s biggest market. According to the official report from the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and the US amounted to $13.14 billion, up 29.24 percent compared to 2024.

Cambodia exported $12.73 billion worth of goods to the US, an increase of 28.48 percent compared to a year before, while imports amounted to over $417 million, a year-on-year increase of 57.83 percent.

khmertimeskh