Bangladesh wants a fair price for its readymade garment products from the US. Bangladesh garment exporters say western buyers are resorting to arm-twisting to lower prices. The nominal value of its readymade garment products have dropped by 2.9 per cent since last year.

Another issue on which Bangladesh wants action on is restoration of GSP facility. The US suspended Bangladesh from GSP in June 2013 based on Bangladesh’s failure to meet statutory eligibility requirements related to worker rights. The decision to suspend trade benefits under the GSP program resulted in US imports of GSP-eligible products from Bangladesh becoming ineligible for duty-free treatment.

Since then the US says Bangladesh has made progress in addressing fire and building safety issues in the garment sector but that further progress is needed for the country to get back GSP.
In fiscal 2013-14, Bangladesh exported goods worth more than $5.58 billion to the US, with 95 per cent of them being garment products, which were subject to 15.61 per cent duty.