China ahead of us in terms of productivity, logistics and backward linkage
Mehdi Mahbub
President, RMG Centre
If China has high tariffs on apparels, then American buyers will certainly try to ship from other countries. So, Bangladesh is hoping to get increased orders from that angle, which is a positive for us.
On the negative side, we were expecting some investments, such as relocation of some industries and businesses, but we may not see that anymore if Trump reduces tariffs on China. China is ahead of us in terms of productivity, logistics and backward linkage. Even though Bangladesh is the second-largest global RMG exporter, we are still far behind China in a lot of ways.
My personal observation is that China has the upper hand in the talks because they wanted an independent, neutral place to have these discussions. The US under Trump wants to do things their own way, and they are not giving importance to neutral bodies like the UN and others unfortunately.
But if you have noticed, President Trump has started softening his stance on the tariffs already because US consumers have been suffering a lot due to the tariff war. So, I think it is inevitable that we will see a softer tariff regime for both countries because they have to accept that neither country is gaining anything from this.
