DHAKA: Bangladeshi textile industry leaders said Thursday that US tariffs posed a "massive blow" to the world's second-largest garment manufacturer, which accounts for some 80 percent of the South Asian nation's exports.
"Buyers will go to other cost-competitive markets -- this is going to be a massive blow for our industry," said Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of RDM Group, a major manufacturer with an estimated $25 million turnover. "We will lose buyers."
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Bangladesh, hiking duty from the previous 16 percent on cotton and 32 percent on polyester products.
Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national trade body. That totals some 20 percent of Bangladesh's total ready-made garment exports.
"We were not ready for this," said Anwar Hossain, administrator of the BGMEA. "It came all of a sudden."
But Hossain said other regional trade rivals were in a worse situation. "Compared to our competitors like China, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, we are still ahead as their tariff is higher than us," Hossain said.
Much of Bangladesh's exports to the United States is cotton cloth, Chowdhury added, who is also a former BGMEA vice president.
Shafiqul Alam, press secretary of Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus, said that the government was seeking solutions. "The National Board of Revenue is identifying options to rationalise tariffs expeditiously, which is necessary to address the matter," Alam said in a statement.
Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, produces garments for global brands -- ranging from France's Carrefour, Canada's Tire, Japan's Uniqlo, Ireland's Primark, Sweden's H&M and Spain's Zara.
Bangladesh's garment industry was crippled by a revolution that toppled the government in August 2024, in which garment sector protesters played an important role.
Production was repeatedly stalled by the months-long violence, although annual earnings were not significantly down.
The apparel industry earned $36 billion in 2024, while it had exported $38 billion the previous year.