Bangladesh is hoping a pledge to buy more US cotton will help persuade President Donald Trump not to maintain a 37 per cent tariff on its exports that threatens its vital garment sector.
“Bangladesh will take all necessary actions to fully support your trade agenda,” interim leader Muhammad Yunus promised Trump in a letter published this week that also promised Bangladeshi tariff cuts on American products such as gas turbines, semiconductors and medical equipment.
The 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s offer comes amid concern in Dhaka that Trump’s tariffs could unravel an industry that subsists on low margins but generates four-fifths of Bangladesh’s export earnings.