Commerce ministry calls meeting on US tariff deal

The commerce ministry has convened a stakeholder consultation for tomorrow, bringing together economists, trade analysts, business leaders and senior officials from across the government to assess its reciprocal trade deal with the United States and determine the next steps.

The meeting is expected to be the first in a series of stakeholder consultations as Dhaka prepares to re-engage Washington.

“We will hold more meetings with different stakeholders and prepare for the next course of action with the US,” Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman told The Daily Star over the phone, confirming tomorrow’s meeting.

The urgency stems from a ruling on February 20 in which the US Supreme Court struck down a large swathe of reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump using an emergency law. The court ruled that the president’s actions were illegal as he did not take congressional approval before imposing the tariffs.

Officials in Dhaka are assessing whether the trade deal with the US, signed on February 9 to reduce the tariff rate, has been invalidated following the court’s ruling. The government is yet to formally write to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to clarify the agreement’s status.

Under the deal, Dhaka had pledged to buy roughly $3.5 billion worth of American agricultural goods -- wheat, soy, cotton and corn -- along with $15 billion in energy products over 15 years and approximately 14 Boeing aircraft.

“It is not clear yet whether Bangladesh will have to import the goods it committed to buy,” the commerce secretary said.

In exchange, Washington agreed to cut its reciprocal tariff on Bangladeshi goods to 19 percent, down from the higher rates imposed earlier.

However, following the court’s ruling, President Trump announced a 15 percent universal tariff applicable to all countries, a figure he had already nudged up from an initial 10 percent.

That blanket rate complicates Dhaka’s predicament considerably.

If the 15 percent tariff applies uniformly to all countries, Bangladesh will not rush into negotiations as there would be no relative disadvantage, Secretary Rahman said.

Yet there is a countervailing logic. The government believes that the Trump administration may reserve tariff concessions for countries that have demonstrated a willingness to engage commercially with the US.

“There is a perception that the Trump administration may lower the 15 percent universal tariff rate for the countries which have engagement with the US,” the commerce secretary added.