Major garment producer Bangladesh eyes US trade deal

Bangladesh, the world’s second-biggest garment manufacturer, aims to strike a trade deal with the United States before President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs kick in next week, the country’s top commerce official told AFP. Dhaka is proposing to buy Boeing planes and boost imports of US wheat, cotton and oil in a bid to reduce the trade deficit, which Trump used as the reason for imposing painful levies in his “Liberation Day” announcement. “We have finalised a draft reciprocal trade agreement,” Mahbubur Rahman said on Wednesday, adding the government was “hopeful of reaching a win-win agreement”. Rahman said a meeting between officials from both countries was slated for July 8, with the US representing 20 per cent of Bangladesh’s ready-made garments exports.