The US government is accepting applications from countries for trade benefits to the American market, in what is a stroke of good fortune for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been lobbying hard with the US government for the reinstatement of its Generalised System of Preferences scheme, which was suspended in June 2013 on grounds of serious shortcomings in workplace safety and labour rights. Bangladesh has since submitted its progress report on workplace safety upgrades twice to the United States Trade Representative, the chief trade negotiation body for the American government, but they were deemed insufficient.Now, Bangladesh has the opportunity to present its case once again. The USTR will receive applications until October 4, according to a notice of the trade representative.Under the GSP programme, about 5,000 products from 122 developing countries and territories, including 43 least-developed countries, get duty-free access to the US market. Major American retailers and trade bodies recently urged the US government to increase the number of GSP-eligible countries supplying travel goods such as bags and luggage to the American market, as the current duty beneficiaries are unable to meet the demand. Save for Cambodia, none of the current GSP beneficiaries have the capacity to make most of the travel products required on a commercial scale — another development that bodes well for Bangladesh as it works to win back its GSP status.Bangladesh is a major producer of travel goods. Before the suspension of GSP, Bangladesh used to export $24 million worth of goods to the US in a year, which is only 0.54 percent of Bangladesh’s total trade with the country. But despite the suspension of GSP, Bangladesh’s exports to the US have been increasing due to higher demand for its main export item, apparel. Bangladesh’s exports to the US grew 7.55 percent year-on-year to $6.22 billion in fiscal 2015-16, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.
