Import of services not included in US-Bangladesh trade deficit calculation, says commerce advisor

Commerce Advisor Sheikh Bashir Uddin has said a team will visit the United States next week to discuss tariffs levied on Bangladeshi products, which the Trump administration says was a move to reduce the bilateral trade deficit.

The trade deficit stands at $6 billion between the countries, meaning, Bangladesh ships goods worth $6 billion more to the US than what the country sends over.

On Wednesday, Bashir Uddin said the United States only takes into account goods, not services, in calculating the deficit, he added.

Bangladesh’s exports to the US are worth $8 billion while imports are goods worth $2 billion, he said and added: “The trade deficit calculation is becoming conceptual.”

"The whole trade deficit debate is becoming speculative. We’ve prepared several action plans with the advice of the country's eminent economists to determine how we can reduce the trade deficit with the US."

“Chief Advisor’s Special Envoy Lutfey Siddiqi and the commerce secretary are scheduled to visit the US next week. They will be connected to the Office of the US Trade Representative there,” he added.

He said 75 percent of Bangladesh imports are either cotton, liquified natural gas (LNG), soyabean, or metal scraps.

Trump’s new tariffs on goods from over 100 countries will impose a 37 percent supplementary tariff on Bangladeshi exports, increasing the total tariff to 52 percent, up from the previous 15 percent.

Traders fear that the imposition of the tariff could reduce Bangladesh's export capability to the US, the country's main export market.

However, the Trump administration has suspended the imposition of additional tariffs for 90 days following a request from the chief advisor.

"The credit cards we use, Google, Facebook, the international banking system, these are the services of the United States. They do not take into account the export of these services."

Bashir Uddin said the issues would be raised in the top-level discussion ahead between the two countries, underlining the trade deficit as an important issue for Bangladesh as the US is the single largest buyer of the country’s export goods.