Jatiya Mukti Council on Saturday strongly opposed the ongoing process of a reciprocal trade agreement between Bangladesh and the United States.
A press release, signed by the party secretary Faizul Hakim, termed the trade agreement as a threat to national sovereignty.
According to international trade experts and critics of the US president Donald Trump, the US鈥檚 trade negotiations with its major trading partners, especially the 71 countries with which it maintains a high trade deficit, have put the world on the verge of entering a new global trade order.
Dhaka has been negotiating with the United States Trade Representative, responsible for developing and promoting US foreign trade policies, for lowering the tariff rate since Trump announced 37 per cent 鈥榬eciprocal鈥� tariff on Bangladeshi exports goods on April 3.
On July 8, the US announced the tariff line at 35 per cent to be made effective from August 1 on top of the sectoral tariffs.
Faizul Hakim alleged that the deal aims to drag Bangladesh into the geopolitical security orbit of the United States, undermining the country鈥檚 independence and sovereignty.
Referring to, what he described as, a long-standing resistance against Indian-backed authoritarian rule in Bangladesh, he said the people would similarly rise against any imperialist effort to bind the nation through 鈥榰nequal鈥� agreements.
He urged the interim government to immediately withdraw it from all treaty negotiations that could place Bangladesh under foreign control.
