Phnom Penh: A working group of the Ministry of Economy and Finance is evaluating the potential impact of newly imposed U.S. tariffs in order to develop strategies to maintain Cambodia’s economic competitiveness, according to a senior official.

According to Agence Kampuchea Presse, this is in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on April 2 of increasing the tariffs on Cambodian imports, reaching up to 49 percent. ‘A working group is assessing the implications of this new tariff. The Royal Government is actively reviewing the situation to prepare for measures to address this issue,’ H.E. Meas Soksensan, the ministry’s Secretary of State and Spokesperson, said on April 3.

In 2024, the Cambodia-U.S. bilateral trade reached US$10.18 billion, up 11.2 percent, of which Cambodia exported US$9.9 billion worth of products to the U.S., up 11.4 percent, and imported some US$264.14 million from the U.S., up 2.7 percent, according to a report from the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia.

This data indicates that the U.S. is the largest importer of goods from Cambodia, followed by Vietnam, China, Japan, and Canada.