Economist Rehman Sobhan on Thursday said rushing to Washington in a show of modesty to deal with the newly announced tariff policy by the United States was not a good strategy.
Dhaka should wait for negotiations between the US and other countries for determining its position, he said while addressing a discussion titled 鈥楾rump Reciprocal Tariffs and Bangladesh: Implications and Response鈥�, organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, in the capital.
Rehman, also chairman of the CPD, said, 鈥業t is rather like a poker player putting his cards on the table when the other people with whom he is playing the game have got their cards concealed in their hands.鈥�
On April 2, the US president Donald Trump had announced reciprocal tariffs against almost all of its trading partners before suspending those for all except China for 90 days on April 9.
More than 75 countries, including Bangladesh, have reached out to the White House for negotiations as the proposed tariffs posed serious threats to the current trend of global trade and created great uncertainties as highlighted by speakers during the discussion.
Dhaka has already sent two letters -- one by the chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus and the other by the commerce adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin -- to let Washington know what measures Bangladesh would take to keep unharmed its exports to the US, its single biggest export destination, worth about $8 billion.聽
Explaining differences in expectations between the policymakers and the businesses from the proposed tariff policy, Rehman said the chief adviser writing a letter and being the first to put it into the post box might not bring about desired outcomes without having a much clearer idea about the US government鈥檚 general policy direction in this regard.
He expressed concerns that the negotiations would not be limited just to exports and imports, but also to intellectual property rights, labour issues, and para tariffs dealt by the United States Trade Representative.
Apprehending that political and strategic variables may be introduced into negotiations by the transactional Trump government, Rehman said, adding that negotiations with the US would not end as the overall issue is linked to its policy on containing China, its main economic rival, like in 2018.
The CPD chairman suggested that attention for more exports should be directed towards the European Union market, Canada, Australia, Japan, and the Southeast Asia.
Earlier, Fazlul Hoque, former president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Mostafa Abid Khan, former member of Bangladesh Tariff and Trade Commission, Md Mahbub ur Rahman, chief executive officer of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Bangladesh, Shams Mahmud, president of Bangladesh Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Ms Taslima Akter Lima, member of the commission on labour rights and president of Bangladesh Garments Sramik Sanghati took part in the discussion.
Former ambassador Tawfiq Ali was also critical of the interim government, saying that Dhaka鈥檚 support for the US trade policy just after its meeting with Beijing was surprising.
He also viewed that the Trump policy would not sustain for two years.
Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the CPD, presented the keynote paper in which he said Bangladesh might lose revenue amounting to some $170 million as it offered zero tariffs on its top three hundred import products from the US.
Shams Mahmud expressed disappointment over the decision of suspending import of yarn through the land ports with India.
He also found the resolution of the land-related problems for a South Korean investor discriminatory against other entrepreneurs.
AKM Fahim Mashroor, co-founder and CEO of Bdjobs.com, regretted that the current government could not implement any major reform in the business sector over the eight months after it assumed office.