CNI News

12 July 2025

The SAC Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar wanted to urgently send a high-level delegation to the US in order to meet and negotiate with relevant officials regarding the US's notice that it will impose a 40 percent trade tariff on Myanmar.

On July 7, 2025, the US President Donald Trump sent a letter to the SAC Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing notifying him that the US would impose a 40 percent trade tariff on Myanmar.

Then, SAC Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing sent a letter to President Donald Trump on July 9, 2025, in which he requested that Myanmar wanted to send a high-level delegation to the United States for negotiations.

 “In order to achieve balanced trade between Myanmar and the United States, we would like to propose and negotiate a tariff adjustment of 10 to 20 percent on exports from Myanmar to the United States and 0 to 10 percent on imports from the United States to Myanmar. If necessary, we would like to quickly send a high-level delegation from Myanmar to meet and negotiate with relevant officials in the US,” said the SAC chairman.

In his letter to President Trump, the SAC chairman said that Myanmar is currently one of the poorest countries in the world, and the past five years have seen a series of severe challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters such as Cyclone Mocha, Cyclone Yagi, and a 7.7-magnitude earthquake. So, the Myanmar people are facing enormous challenges.

“The international community has imposed sanctions on Myanmar based on false information without knowing the true situation in Myanmar. The United States has also imposed sanctions on Myanmar, and these sanctions are of no benefit to our two countries. Therefore, we would like to request that the previously imposed economic sanctions be lifted in the interests of the people from both countries,” he said.

Economic analysts have warned that if the SAC fails to ease the US's 40 percent trade tariff on Myanmar, the garment industry could be hurt and unemployment could rise.

The trade value between the US and Myanmar was US$ 701 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year and US$ 588.3 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, said Major General Zaw Min Tun, leader of the Information Team of the SAC.