The country鈥檚 readymade garment manufacturers have sought the involvement of the interim government鈥檚 chief adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, in tariff talks with the United States.
They also urged for an appointment with the chief adviser, where they would request Yunus that he should appoint lobbyists to address the newly imposed 35 per cent tariff on Bangladeshi goods exported to the US.
Currently, Bangladeshi RMG exporters enjoy a tariff of about 15 per cent-16 per cent in exporting to the US.
According to Otexa data, the US imported apparel items from Bangladesh for $7.34 billion, a lion share of Bangladesh鈥檚 total export value to the market, in 2024.
Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that they would request the chief adviser to appoint a lobbyist to strengthen Bangladesh鈥檚 position in tariff negotiations and to persuade Washington to lower the rate.
鈥榃e want an effective solution with the help of the government and we request the chief adviser to involve himself in the matter,鈥� he added.
Earlier on Monday, US president Donald J Trump imposed a steep 35 per cent tariff on Bangladesh, along with 13 other countries, through letters to 14 heads of the states.
The rate would be effective on August 1 on top of the sectoral tariffs.
Meanwhile, the second round of tariff negotiations between Bangladesh and the US started on Wednesday.
Mahmud Hasan observed that the exporters who solely worked with the US would face a substantial blow due to the tariff hike.
鈥業t would be challenging to find new destinations for them and if they couldn鈥檛 manage it, incidents of closing factories and losing jobs would be imminent,鈥� he added.
He also said that if the tariffs of competitor countries were lower, the buyers would go with them.
Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said on Tuesday that as Bangladesh鈥檚 negotiations with the US in this regard were still ongoing and they were hopeful that a positive outcome would be achieved.
Mohiuddin Rubel, managing director of the Bangladesh Apparel Exchange and former director of the BGMEA, said that Bangladesh needed to focus on reducing newly imposed tariffs and aligning them with those of its competitors to boost competitiveness.
鈥楤y managing internal costs effectively and developing all other impacting factors, like continuing product innovation and diversification of new markets, we can strengthen the competitive edge and stimulate further growth,鈥� he added.
鈥楽ome orders may relocate sources if lower costs than Bangladesh are offered, while the end users might reduce purchases due to the elevated expenses as well,鈥� he added.
Considering the 2024 import from Bangladesh, this tariff increase signifies an additional payment of $2.57 billion in tariff by the US importers.
In 2024, Bangladesh exported about $8.4 billion in goods to the US and Bangladesh imported US goods worth $2.2 billion.
Earlier, on April 3, the US had imposed a steep 37 per cent 鈥榬eciprocal鈥� tariff on Bangladeshi exports, but on April 9, the US president declared a three-month pause on the tariff.
