The US reciprocal tariffs are, by any reckoning, going to have significant implications for Bangladesh’s exports to the country, particularly those of readymade garments, as also footwear. Making use of relevant analytical tools, the paper makes an attempt to capture the impacts of the RTs on Bangladesh’s export performance, particularly vis-à-vis its key competitors in the US market. The paper argues that the US-RTs are not only about tariffs and non-tariff issues but also involve a complex set of geo-political and geo-strategic issues of interest to the US, and this calls for inputs from a diverse range of stakeholders. The paper proposes a set of measures which Bangladesh could pursue in the course of the ongoing negotiations with the USTR against this backdrop.
Authors: Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Anika Tasnim Arpita and Tanbin Alam Chowdhury
Publication Period: July 2025
