USTR invites Bangladesh to resume talks on 29 July

The United States Trade Representative (USTR), the chief trade negotiation body for the American government, has invited Bangladesh to resume the third and final round of tariff negotiations on 29 July, said Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman.

Earlier, Bangladesh sent the country's position paper to the USTR on 22 July and proposed 26 July as the date for resuming the final round of negotiations at the USTR office in Washington DC.

However, the USTR finally set 29 July as the date for resuming the talks, where Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin will lead the Bangladesh team, the commerce secretary told BSS over the phone.

If the meeting is held in person, the Bangladesh team will leave for the USA on 27 July. However, there is also a possibility that the meeting will be held virtually, the secretary said.

This time, some exporters from the private sector may join the Bangladesh team, but they will not take part in the negotiation meetings, which will be held in a government-to-government format, he added.

The secretary expressed hope that the Trump administration will lower the tariff rate for Bangladesh at the end of the negotiations, as rates have already been lowered for some countries.

For instance, the US government has reduced tariffs to 15 per cent for Japan, 19 per cent for Indonesia, 20 per cent for Vietnam, and 19 per cent for the Philippines.

Moreover, Bangladesh has so far negotiated well with the USTR, and it is expected that the tariff rate for Bangladesh will also be significantly lower than the existing 35 per cent.

Bangladesh has already offered zero-duty import of US commodities such as cotton, wheat, liquefied natural gas, aircraft, and other agricultural products.

To increase imports from the USA, Bangladesh signed a deal with American wheat suppliers on 20 July to import 0.7 million tonnes of the cereal grain.