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is heavily tilted towards Bangladesh, which exports goods worth over $8 billion to the US in a year. Its annual imports of American goods stand around $2 billion.

A team in Bangladesh has been working on finding ways to reduce the trade gap, the Bangladesh delegation told the USTR officials in the meeting.

For instance, Bangladesh is the second-largest importer of US cotton after China. The trade gap will reduce if Bangladesh imports more cotton from the US.

Apart from cotton, Bangladesh has also been working on ways to increase the import of liquefied natural gas, soybean oil, soy seeds and other goods from the US.

The US delegation acknowledged that the trade gap will not reduce overnight, and it will take more time. However, the US wants to see that Bangladesh has started working on it, and the progress is visible.

The US government will work based on the proposal sent by Bangladesh.

The next discussion will take place as soon as Bangladesh sends its work plan for reducing the trade gap to the USTR, Golam Mortoza, press minister at the Bangladesh embassy in Washington, DC, told The Daily Star over the phone.

Lutfey Siddiqi, the chief adviser’s special envoy for international affairs, led the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting. It also included Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, National Board of Revenue Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan and Finance Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder.