Bangladesh now awaits the United States' response to the schedule for the third round of negotiations on Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which are set to be imposed from August 1.
To prevent that, Bangladesh must reach an agreement by July 31 if Trump's tariff schedule is not postponed again, according to Commerce Ministry officials.
Before July 7’s 35% tariff imposition, earlier on April 2 this year, Trump announced an additional 37% tariff on Bangladeshi goods.
While the tariff was initially set to take effect on July 1, the US president has extended the deadline to August 1.
Having a three-month window from April to July, in the first round of negotiation, Bangladesh managed to cut its tariffs by only 2%. Then, in the second round, negotiations took place on July 9-11 in Washington, D.C.
But so far, no good signal has been conveyed to Bangladesh.
After repeated delays in scheduling the third round of negotiations on Tuesday evening (about 7:30 pm Bangladesh time), Bangladesh formally requested a specific date from the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for the meeting.
Mahbubur Rahman, commerce secretary, said: “We have sent our position paper in response to the draft agreement, and we have requested them to schedule the next meeting within the coming week, any day from Sunday (July 26) onwards.”
“If the USTR confirms the date, a delegation led by Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin will leave for Washington for the final round of negotiations. If the US offers an alternative date, the delegation will travel accordingly,” he added.
Regarding the queries on the position papers, he refused to answer, as all these are under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
Wheat import
In the meantime, on Wednesday (July 23), the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a proposal to import 220,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States under a government-to-government (G2G) arrangement to reduce the trade gap between the two countries.
Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters: “We are purchasing this wheat for three reasons. First, to gain an advantage in tariff negotiations with the US. Second, to diversify our wheat import sources; and third, because the wheat has a slightly higher protein content.”
Asked about the price and protein level of the wheat, the adviser said both were slightly higher compared to typical imports.
According to the proposal placed by the food ministry, the purchase price has been set at $302.75 per MT, amounting to a total expenditure of Tk817.57 crore for the entire consignment.
That means per kilogram it would cost Tk37.20.
However, earlier, to reduce the trade gap between Bangladesh and the US, the Bangladesh government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US Wheat Associates (USW) and committed to purchasing 700,000 tonnes (MT) (25.7 million bushels) of US wheat annually for the next five years.
At a signing ceremony in Dhaka on July 20, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Tracey Ann Jacobson joined senior officials from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Bangladesh Ministry of Food.
On behalf of the United States, Joe Sowers, USW regional vice-president for South and Southeast Asia, signed the MoU with the Government of Bangladesh, represented by Md Abul Hasanath Humayun Kabir, director general of the Directorate General of Food.
