US seeks Bangladesh’s plan to address trade imbalance

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has requested a detailed work plan from Bangladesh to reduce the bilateral trade gap before making any decisions on reciprocal tariffs.

During a meeting held on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, Brendan Lynch, Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, asked the Bangladesh delegation to submit the plan within five pages.

He also called for updates on non-tariff issues, including progress on labour rights and intellectual property protections.

In response, the Bangladesh delegation mentioned that a draft amendment to the labour law has been prepared and will be shared before finalisation. The proposed changes are based on international standards.

The delegation highlighted recent assurances of importing more US goods as part of efforts to rebalance trade. It was noted that a proposal has been made to allow duty-free access for an additional 100 US products alongside the existing 190 items.

Currently, Bangladesh exports over $8 billion worth of goods to the US each year, while imports from the US total around $2 billion.

To reduce the gap, Bangladesh is exploring increased imports of key American products such as cotton, liquefied natural gas, soybean oil, and soy seeds.

The US side acknowledged that correcting the imbalance would take time but expressed the need for visible progress.

Future discussions are expected to take place once Bangladesh submits its proposed plan.

The delegation from Bangladesh was led by the Special Envoy for International Affairs to the Chief Adviser and included senior officials from the Commerce Ministry, National Board of Revenue, and Finance Ministry.