KANDY, Sri Lanka — A senior Buddhist leader in Sri Lanka on Wednesday welcomed a United States decision to lower tariffs on Sri Lankan goods, telling the new American ambassador that the country had received favorable treatment at a time when Washington has raised tariffs on many of its trading partners.
The Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera, the Mahanayake, or chief prelate, of the Malwathu Chapter, one of the most influential Buddhist orders in the country, spoke during a meeting with Ambassador Eric Meyer at the Malwathu Maha Viharaya temple in Kandy. He said he appreciated the reduction and hoped the United States would grant Sri Lanka further tariff relief.
In July, the United States placed Sri Lanka under a 10 percent tariff under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the country enacted a ban on imports of goods made with forced labor. Economies that did not take such steps were assigned a 12.5 percent duty. The levy is added on top of existing U.S. import duties. The combined tariff on Sri Lankan apparel, which averaged about 16.5 percent before the change, is expected to average about 26.5 percent.
Washington first threatened a 44 percent tariff on Sri Lankan goods in 2025, then cut the proposed rate to 30 percent after talks between the two governments. Sri Lanka later negotiated the rate down to 20 percent. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that tariff regime, and the administration imposed a temporary 10 percent duty for 150 days. The U.S. trade representative then opened Section 301 investigations into 60 economies over forced labor import bans.
The United States is Sri Lanka's largest export market, mainly for garments. It bought about $1.44 billion in Sri Lankan goods in the first half of 2026, around 20 percent of the country's total merchandise exports.
Mr. Meyer, a career diplomat, presented his credentials to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Aug. 25, three days after arriving in Colombo as the 29th U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka. President Trump nominated him in July 2025, and he was sworn in at the State Department by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. His arrival ended a seven-month period in which the embassy was run by an acting chief after the departure of Julie Chung, who left on Jan. 16 after nearly four years as ambassador. Mr. Meyer previously served as chargé d'affaires at the U.S. mission to Norway and as senior bureau official in the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.
In Kandy, the island's former royal capital and the seat of its leading Buddhist institutions, the Malwathu Mahanayake presented Mr. Meyer with an English translation of the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings attributed to the Buddha, and told him the text offered guidance on how to live a successful life.
Mr. Meyer then went to the Asgiriya Maha Viharaya, where he met the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, the Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter. The monk spoke of the long relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States and said he hoped ties would grow stronger during Mr. Meyer's tenure. The Venerable Muruddeniye Dhammarakkhitha Thera, the chapter's deputy registrar, also attended.
Mr. Meyer said he had first come to Sri Lanka as a tourist about 25 years ago, on a trip that included Kandy, and pledged to work to strengthen relations between the two countries.
He also referred to Cyclone Ditwah, saying the United States had provided as much assistance as it could after the storm. The cyclone struck in late November 2025 and by the end of December had killed 644 people, displaced more than 205,000 and left over 175 missing. The U.S. Embassy said in January that total American assistance for the response had reached $4 million. The U.S. military also deployed C-130 aircraft to support relief operations.
On Tuesday, Mr. Meyer visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which houses what Buddhists revere as a tooth of the Buddha. He made a floral offering at the shrine and met Pradeep Nilanga Dela, the Diyawadana Nilame, the temple's lay custodian.
