Trade between Bangladesh and the United States rose 8.5 per cent in 2015. Exports from Bangladesh accounted for $6 billion of the total, and 90 per cent of this was clothing. The United States accounted for a quarter of all Bangladesh's exports.

US investment in Bangladesh rose to about $2 billion in 2015 from $1.5 billion the year before. Bangladesh’s exports include textile and clothing products, shrimps, tea and golf club shafts, while it imports raw cotton, chemicals, machinery and equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Designated as a least developed country, Bangladesh received trade benefits under the US Generalized System of Preferences but the facility has been suspended since June 2013, following the death of more than 1,100 garment workers the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka.

The Bangladesh readymade garment industry has grown over the space of a few short decades to become the second largest in the world. The sector has become a key driver of the Bangladesh economy and the nation’s development. The readymade garment sector accounts for over 80 per cent of the nation’s export earnings and employs some 4.2 million workers, an estimated 60 per cent of whom are women.