The Socialist Student Front central committee on Sunday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, demanding the cancellation of what it described as "unfair trade agreements" recently signed between Bangladesh and the United States.
A delegation of the organization went to the Prime Minister's Office with the memorandum at around 12:45pm after holding a rally at the University of Dhaka's Oporajeyo Bangla sculpture at around 11:30am. The rally was followed by a procession that ended at the university's Teacher-Student Centre (TSC).
According to the organization, the memorandum carries more than 150,000 signatures.
Speaking at the rally, Socialist Student Front Central President Mukta Baroi said the trade agreement would have a direct adverse impact on Bangladesh's industry, agriculture, and small farmers.
She said: "This BNP government, brought to power through the people's direct vote, is carrying forward the same audacity and recklessness that the interim government had shown."
Reading out the memorandum, Baroi said: "According to Article 145(A) of the Constitution, any agreement signed with a foreign state must be presented before Parliament. Yet more than 6 months have passed without any discussion of this matter in Parliament."
She further read: "After being elected US president for a second term, Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on various countries. He then used that pressure to force many nations into signing unequal trade agreements. Bowing to that pressure, Bangladesh's interim government sacrificed the country's interests and signed a trade agreement with the United States."
Referring to developments in the United States, she said: "Last February, the US Supreme Court declared Trump's unilateral tariff policy unconstitutional and struck it down. This has created an opportunity to cancel the trade agreement signed with the Trump administration. Malaysia has already canceled its bilateral trade agreement with the US. The European Union has also held off on signing any such agreement."
Socialist Student Front Central Office Secretary Anik Kumar Das and Organizing Secretary Suhail Ahmed Shuvo, among others, also addressed the rally.
