The Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce has called an urgent inter-ministerial meeting tomorrow, Sunday, to determine the course of action regarding the United States’ imposition of retaliatory tariffs. The primary objective of this meeting is to review the issue of counter-tariffs and establish the next strategic steps.
This meeting will not be held in person; instead, officials from various ministries and agencies will participate virtually via a Zoom link.
The meeting is scheduled to take place on Sunday at 10:30 AM and will be chaired by the Commerce Secretary, Mahbubur Rahman. Despite the ongoing Eid holidays, the Ministry of Commerce sent letters yesterday, Friday, requesting participation from various ministries and agencies.
Among those invited are the Foreign Secretary, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce’s Export Division, the Vice Chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the Commercial Counsellor at Bangladesh’s Washington Embassy, Masrur Riaz, Chairman of the private organisation Policy Exchange Bangladesh, and Mohammad Abdur Razzaq, Chairman of the private organisation RAPID.
Last Thursday, the United States imposed a 37% counter-tariff on Bangladeshi products. US President Donald Trump announced this decision, which affects not only Bangladesh but also products from numerous other countries. The tariffs have been imposed primarily on nations with a significant trade deficit with the United States. This move has sparked global controversy.
One of the key reasons for the increasing trade deficit is that many of the countries exporting to the US impose high tariff rates and various trade barriers on American goods.
