US tariff on Bangladeshi goods may exceed 50% with newly imposed tariff
According to industry experts and exporters, the new 35% tariff will be added to the existing average duty of over 15% that Bangladeshi goods already face, pushing the total tariff above 50%
The United States' recent tariff adjustment — lowering a previously imposed rate from 37% to 35% — has sparked questions about the total tariff burden on Bangladeshi exports to the US.
According to industry experts and exporters, the new 35% tariff will be added to the existing average duty of over 15% that Bangladeshi goods already face, pushing the total tariff above 50%.
This means that for a $10 garment exported from Bangladesh, US importers would now have to pay more than $5 in tariffs, compared to $1.5 before April.
While the new tariff structure does not apply solely to Bangladesh, similar rules are expected to apply to other countries as well, based on the policy introduced during the Trump administration.
Though Bangladeshi exporters are not the ones directly paying the tariffs —the burden falls on US importers — the high import costs may prompt American buyers to turn to alternative sourcing destinations with lower duties. This, in turn, could indirectly hurt Bangladesh's competitiveness in the US market.
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"Bangladesh will have to face the full brunt of the 35% additional tariff in addition to the existing average 16% duty," said Fazlul Hoque, former president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).
"It will be more than a disaster," he told The Business Standard.
Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), said that according to US trade rules, the new 35% tariff would be applied on top of the existing duties — not just for Bangladesh but for all other countries facing similar trade restrictions.
He also noted that previously, tariff rates for Vietnam and India, Bangladesh's main competitors, were almost the same as those for Bangladesh.
Mohiuddin Rubel, former director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), echoed this view.
"Even Trump's letter to Yunus seemed to imply this structure," he said.
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.
