Finance adviser hopes for resolving US tariff issue

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today hoped for resolving US reciprocal tariff issue saying it would be a win-win situation for both the countries as Chief Adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus has already sent a letter to US President Donald Trump over the issue.

"On the whole, we've responded positively. We expect that they will cooperate with us the way we're cooperating with them. So, it's a win-win situation... we've highlighted our issue and I hope the issue will be resolved," he said.

Dr Salehuddin said this while responding to queries of reporters after chairing a meeting on the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase held at the Cabinet Division conference room at Bangladesh Secretariat.

The finance adviser said it is positive in that sense that it would benefit both the countries.

Earlier on yesterday, Prof Yunus sent a letter to Donald Trump requesting to postpone the application of a 37 percent tariff on Bangladeshi products in the US market for three months to allow the interim government to smoothly implement its initiative to substantially increase US exports to Bangladesh.

"We're the first country to take such a pro-active initiative", Prof Yunus said in his letter, citing the visit of High Representative Dr Khalilur Rahman to Washington DC in February.

Responding to a question, Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin said that the government is yet to get any response following the letter from the Ministry of Commerce to the US Trade Representative.

"Our basic goal is to reduce or remove the trade gap and we're working on that and conducting various types of analysis on how to reduce the trade gap putting emphasis on which products," he added.

"Actually this is a very evolving matter and it's also a bit difficult to take any kind of decision. As it develops, we'll fix our strategies," he added.

Responding to another query, Bashir said that they are definitely expecting some positive impact over the government's move for making zero import tariff on some 100 products. "We're making all the necessary hard work and trying to sort out on how to minimize the trade gap," he said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is ready to offer zero import tariffs for another 100 US goods in addition to the existing 190, in order to minimise the trade gap and address Trump's reciprocal tariffs.

The commerce adviser sent the letter to US Trade Representative yesterday.

Bangladesh is one of the largest importers of US cotton, manufactures of readymade garments, and faces higher tariffs on its exports to the United States, the adviser wrote in the letter.