Pompeo in Sri Lanka for SOFA/MCC using GSP as Bait

Quite obviously to fulfill one of its foreign policy objectives in the Indo-Pacific Region – is sending a high-level delegation November 27-28 (2020) led by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to Sri Lanka to discuss the ‘continuation’ of the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) with the government at a time Sri Lanka has expressed some skepticism of several (highly questionable) terms of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and MCC the US wants Sri Lanka to accept.

This is a typical Washington strategy holding the current lucrative American market for Sri Lanka’s exports under the March-2018 renewed GSP which is expected to lapse in December 2020 as a bait to bring pressure to agree to the conditions. Pompeo is in Colombo just one month prior to the expiry of the GSP PLUS.

Washington designed to hold the GSP Talks as a prerequisite to induce Sri Lanka to agree to the conditions proposed by Washington to finalize the SOFA/MCC agreements which are well connected to 2017-signed 83-page ACSA which facilitates the United States to station American military, its advisors and operators on Sri Lankan soil.

Both Colombo and Washington are well aware that 27 percent of exports from Sri Lanka arrive in the American market, and that Sri Lanka heavily depends on this market. GSP PLUS is large part of it.

3,451 different products from Sri Lanka are eligible to enter the United States duty-free under the GSP program. US has been the leading buyer of Lankan exports over the years and it continued its lead . Sri Lankan exports to United States is now almost at 3 billion US dollars threshold for the first time.

The ACSA and SOFA (and of course MCC) are vital components of Washington’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region” policy. The US has signed the two agreements with nations along the Indo-Pacific region, most recently with Maldives. The United States, during the past two years, has enhanced its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Washington has recognized Sri Lanka’s location in the region as a geo-strategically vital for its operation in the Indo-Pacific to confront China’s economic-military expansion. On official last year told a Washington gathering that Sri Lanka is a “Real Estate” in the Indo-Pacific region.

The question is: Will Sri Lanka succumb to U.S. Pressure when the GSP is over its head?

By Daya Gamage

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