Ranil’s quip on Trump makes AMCHAM audience erupt into laughter!

• PM says Lanka understands Trump better for policy inconsistency
• Believes new US President brings both uncertainty and opportunities

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s quip about new US President Donald Trump during a luncheon session yesterday with a local unit of the American Chamber made those present at the forum erupt into laughter.

“Americans are used to policy consistency, we live with policy inconsistency. So we understand President Trump better,” quipped the Premier Wickremesinghe to a roar of laughter, as he addressed the ‘Prime Minister Speaks’ event organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) yesterday.

The off-the-cuff remark came after Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva had at length answered a question put forth to him by the audience on the probable impact of a Donald Trump presidency on US-Sri Lanka relations.

Calling for the need to be “realistic”, De Silva identified the US’s move away from the Transpacific Trade Pact (TPP) as a positive for Sri Lanka, noting that the Prime Minister had already instructed they begin work towards formulating a bilateral agreement between the two nations. However, other questions raised by a Trump presidency did not elicit much certainty from the Deputy Foreign Minister.

 “Will the US continue to be the global policeman? The world will move from a unipolar mechanism to a multipolar mechanism, so how do we adjust to that? Who will fill the void in our part of the world? The FED says there are three interest rate increases this year, so what will that mean to global financial flows? How will Sri Lanka place itself in that competitive market place to offer positive real return to investors?”

Despite this, De Silva remained optimistic, labelling the new diplomatic dynamic an “amazing challenge” and a “wonderful opportunity”. This was chiefly down to Sri Lanka no longer having to sign on to the TPP.

 “Like the Prime Minister said, it would have been very difficult for us to get into the TPP because of the reforms we would have to do unilaterally. And that would have caused tremendous political upheaval here. But now we can do with less of them if we enter into bilateral or other agreements.”

 This optimism was somewhat tempered by Deputy US Ambassador Robert Hilton, who, citing Trumps ‘America First’ platform, warned Sri Lanka not to get its hopes up on a free trade agreement with the US.

“I have to say that the idea of an FTA is tough one, it’s tough to know what might happen, but we do have a very good agreement with TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) that the US and Sri Lanka have entered into, that provides a forum for use to have conversations about steps that both governments can take to increase trade and investment.”

Nevertheless, the US remains Sri Lanka’s single largest export market, and Hilton believed that growing that as well as increasing American exports to Sri Lanka would be high on the list of priorities, especially with the Government’s stated commitment to making the country more conducive to foreign investors.

“We encourage members of the AmCham to consider their investments in Sri Lanka, recognising that this is an environment where there is room for growth if the Government can take and follow through some of the steps that they have said that they will undertake,” he concluded.