The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake raised concerns that emerging regional alignments among major economies could disadvantage smaller exporting countries such as Sri Lanka. Referring to Sri Lanka’s USD 3.2 billion in exports to the United States, he asked whether possible universal tax arrangements and reduced cost disparities would weaken Sri Lanka’s competitiveness, and urged the Minister to anticipate these risks in ongoing negotiations.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Minister, my concern is that globalization is morphing into a “big club” world—large countries aligning regionally. Sri Lanka exports USD 3.2 billion to the USA; your answer is that it is premature to conclude. With US arrangements with China, Japan, Korea, and issues with Mexico/Canada stabilizing, will small countries be suffocated by a universal tax and shrinking disparities? Low-cost countries like ours may struggle to compete. You are leading negotiations; I flag this early so we are prepared.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 ·No. 1750929357043199 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/14744
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 June 2025. No. 1750929357043199. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/14744