Commerce advisor hopes reducing Bangladesh’s trade deficit with US would lead to tariff cuts

Commerce Advisor Sheikh Bashir Uddin has said that if the trade deficit between the United States and Bangladesh could be reduced, then Washington might reduce tariffs on Bangladeshi products. He made the remarks on Sunday afternoon after a meeting with Brendan Lynch, assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, according to a Ministry of Commerce media statement. The advisor said the US delegation had arrived in Dhaka on a three-day visit to finalise a trade agreement between the two countries. After prolonged negotiations, the US had earlier reduced the 37 percent supplementary duty on all Bangladeshi goods to 35 percent, and again to 20 percent. On Aug 12, Bashir said the government’s efforts to bring down the 20...