Two United States high officials, deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Nicole Ann Chulick arrived at Dhaka on Tuesday, and deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Andrew R Herrup is due in city today on official visits to discuss trade, reciprocal tariffs, Rohingya and other issues of bilateral interest.
The US delegation, led by Nicole Ann Chulick who met her US colleagues on her arrival, would begin its official engagements today, officials in Dhaka confirmed.
These are the first delegations from the administration of the newly elected US president, Donald Trump, to visit Bangladesh.
Foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain in the past week said that they would discuss all aspects of relations with the US delegations.聽聽
The delegations are likely to hold separate meetings with political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, besides government officials and civil society members over Bangladesh鈥檚 democratic transition, reform initiatives of the interim government led by chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, and bilateral trade, among other issues, according to officials concerned.
The previous Biden administration extended support for reforms and democratic transition in Bangladesh.
The delegation led by Andrew Herrup during its visit would focus on the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar situation as Bangladesh has been pressing for the return of more than 1.2 million Myanmar nationals of Rohingya community who fled to Bangladesh, facing brutal atrocities by the Myanmar military since 2017.聽
Susan Stevenson, US charg茅 d鈥檃ffaires in Myanmar, is likely to join Andrew Herrup during his visit to Bangladesh beginning today.
The US deputy assistant secretaries are scheduled to depart Dhaka by April 18.
Bangladesh, which had appealed for a pause in the reciprocal tariffs slapped recently by the Trump administration, has already welcomed the US decision for a 90-day suspension of the reciprocal tariffs for most countries.
On April 9, the US president Donald Trump declared a complete halt on all 鈥榬eciprocal鈥� tariffs, taking immediate effect, with the exception of those imposed on China, Canada and Mexico.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump stated that he had 鈥榓uthorised a 90-day pause, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.鈥�
Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on April 7 sent a letter to US president Donald Trump, requesting a three-month postponement of the proposed reciprocal tariff measures on Bangladeshi exports to the US, single largest destination of Bangladesh鈥檚 readymade garment exports.
The move came after Trump announced steep 37 per cent tariff on April 2, triggering an alarm in Dhaka over its potential impact on export earnings and jobs in key sectors such as garments and textiles.