Trump’s tariffs could reduce apparel exports to US by $1.25bn, says RAPID

The Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) Chairman MA Razzaque has warned that Bangladesh's earnings from garment exports could be reduced by $1.25 billion due to the additional supplementary tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration on goods entering the US.

He presented these calculations at a workshop organised at the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) auditorium in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Speaking at the workshop on “US counter-tariffs and concerns and opportunities of transitioning from Least Developed Country (LDC) to Developing Country”, economist Razzaque said: “If the reciprocal tariffs are implemented, the amount of ready-made garments imported by the US will fall by 12 percent this year.

“If we assume that before the reciprocal tariff, the US imported ready-made garments worth $80 billion to $84 billion, a 12 percent decline would reduce total imports by around $10 billion.

“In Bangladesh’s case, exports could fall by approximately 14 percent.”

He estimated that Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector exports to the US market could fall by about $1.25 billion.