The United States says Bangladesh needs to improve labour rights and worker safety in order to regain trade benefits it lost in 2013 after the Rana Plaza disaster that killed more than 1,100 people, most of them garment workers.
The US position came yesterday after a Bangladeshi minister claimed that his country met all the conditions under an action plan suggested by Washington to get the preferential trade status back.
“I understand there is an assessment by some in Bangladesh that the action plan has already been fulfilled,” Assistant US Trade Representative Michael Delaney said in Dhaka.
“But the fact is that our own tracking of the items in the plan ...  indicates that more needs to be done,” he said, referring to the 16-point plan put forward by Washington.
Delaney is leading a US delegation to Dhaka to review the progress Bangladesh has made since it lost the preferential trade status, which lowers customs duties on certain goods.
Removing Bangladesh was a mostly symbolic gesture, however, because garment products from the country were never eligible under the US preferential trade list.
Delaney said progress had been made in a number of areas but that more needs to be done in terms of safety and protecting unions from harassment.
Bangladesh, the second largest apparel producing country after China, came under severe criticism over workplace safety after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory outside Dhaka.