BGMEA requests meeting with CA to seek appointment of lobbyist to address US tariff
He seeks an effective solution with the help of the government
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has requested an appointment with the chief adviser to discuss appointing lobbyists to address the newly imposed 35% tariff in exports to the US.
Speaking to The Business Standard, BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan Khan said they will request the CA to appoint a lobbyist to bolster Bangladesh's position in the negotiation with the US and persuade Washington.
He seeks an effective solution with the help of the government.
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Additionally, they will also request the chief adviser to become directly involved in the matter himself, added the BGMEA president.
The development comes after US President Donald Trump sent letters to 14 heads of states imposing varying rates of tariffs with Bangladesh being hit with a 35% tariff on exports to the country.
However, according to the Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, there is still scope of negotiation.
A meeting between a Bangladeshi delegation comprising Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin and officials from the US Trade Representative's (USTR) will take place today (9 July).
US President Donald Trump, in a letter posted on his Truth Social account early Tuesday (Bangladesh time), announced a 35% tariff on Bangladeshi goods — 2% less than the initial 37% proposed three months ago. However, this still remains significantly higher than Vietnam's revised tariff rate of 20%, negotiated as part of a new trade deal under which Vietnam agreed to remove all import duties on US goods.
Trump's letters, sent to leaders of 14 countries, outlined new tariff rates effective from 1 August.
Apart from Bangladesh, the new rates include Myanmar and Laos at 40%, Cambodia and Thailand at 36%, Serbia at 35%, Indonesia at 32%, and South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Tunisia at 25%.
The letters warned Trump's counterparts to not retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.
