US attempting to force SL to take sides in trade war :SLCFA

Sri Lanka - China Friendship Association (SLCFA) yesterday warned that the United States is attempting to force Sri Lanka to take sides in a trade war that it has launched against China and to force Sri Lanka to sign unequal agreements that would be disastrous for our country by using GSP + concessions.  
“English language Sri Lankan dailies had reported on Thursday (13) that a high level delegation from the US will arrive in Sri Lanka to discuss trade matters, among which GSP + would be a main point of discussion. This US move is also an attempt to push Sri Lanka to sign Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), an unequal agreement which endangers independence and sovereignty of Sri Lanka,” President of SLCFA, Ananda Goonatilleke said.   
Earlier this month the US withdrew the GSP+ facility to India and India has raised import taxes as high as 120% on a number of U.S. items from yesterday.  
“The US government team arrives hot in the trail of US withdrawing the GSP+ facility to India. Despite American diplomatic claims that the US will not use GSP+ to force Sri Lanka to sign agreements that Sri Lanka does not want, history has shown that US does use trade as a weapon to influence the independent decisions of sovereign countries of the world,” he said.