The United States has sought to know what steps Bangladesh would take to reduce the trade deficiency between the two countries and how they will execute them.
Washington wants a precise action plan in this regard from Bangladesh where mention of necessary steps for the sake of changing the labour condition, labour law and intellectual property law is essential.
These issues came up in the talk between chief adviser’s special envoy on international affairs Lutfey Siddiqui and US assistant trade representative for South and Central Asia Brendon Lynch on Wednesday morning (Washington local time).
Lutfey Siddiqui represented Bangladesh and Brendon Lynch represented the US in the bilateral talks.
Press minister for Bangladesh Embassy in the US, Golam Mortoza told Prothom Alo from Washington that the US has commended Bangladesh during the talks.
After US President Donald Trump decided to impose counter tariffs on different countries, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus had sent a letter to the US president on 7 April.
On the same day commerce adviser Sk Bashir Uddin had also sent a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer. The letter was sent to the US with the request of suspending the counter tariffs for three months. Later, US President Donald Trump suspended the counter tariff for 90 days.
Within a few days of sending the letter, Bangladesh has reflected upon its own initiative to solve the issue through discussion by sending a representative to Washington.
Diplomatic sources report that Bangladesh in the discussion spoke of importing more Soybean oil and LNG alongside cotton to reduce the trade deficiency. The issue of importing goods from the US both on government and private levels came up in the discussions.
At the time it was stated on behalf of the US that nobody expects that the trade deficiency would be gone completely if steps are taken at the moment. However it’s necessary to ensure that Bangladesh is taking visible steps to resolve the matter. The US wants to see precise action plan on what steps Bangladesh would take for that and how they would be implemented.
A source from Washington stated that the US has advised on including issues of bringing necessary changes to labour rights protection, improving their work environment, labour conditions, labour law and intellectual property law alongside reducing the tariffs on goods imported from the US and have planning about the imported goods in the action plan.