No GSP for Bangladesh

The United States has renewed its Generalised System of Preference (GSP) facility for 122 countries, but Bangladesh is not one of them. All the SAARC nations, except Bangladesh is included in the renewed the GSP facility. The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) website says the facility is still suspended for Bangladesh and that it’s closely observing the country's labour rights scenario. The trade benefits for Bangladesh were revoked in mid-2013 after the Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen Fashions fire, which left more than 1,200 people dead.  In 2012, Bangladesh’s export to US stood at $34.7 million, which included tobacco, sports equipment, ceramic and plastic goods, which allowed a tax waiver of around $2 million for exporters. Bangladesh’s largest export destination is the US as around 21 per cent of its $25 billion exports goes to the country, according to figures by the Export Promotion Bureau. However, the US had to stop its GSP facility in 2013 as its Trade Preference Act expired. On June 29 this year, President Barack Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 after the Congress cleared it.  According to the Act, the GSP facility for 122 countries will be effective until December 31, 2017 and makes it retroactive to July 31, 2013, according to a news agency.

-SRS