US reiterates the need for upgrading labour laws
The US has once again called for upgrading labour laws in Bangladesh to global standards for deepening trade ties in President Biden's 2024 Trade Policy Agenda.
Throughout 2023, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the chief trade negotiation body for the American government, engaged with the commerce ministry to press home the importance of the Biden administration's worker-centred trade policy.
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The disclosure was made in President Biden's 2024 Trade Policy Agenda and 2023 Annual Report to Congress, which was released on March 1.
Both worker safety standards and worker rights have been issues of concern after Bangladesh's eligibility for the Generalised System of Preferences was terminated in 2013, it said.
"Despite the progress on worker safety standards in the last decade, the US continues to urge Bangladesh to align its domestic labour laws with international labour standards."
During the US–Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation and Facilitation Agreement (TICFA) council meeting in September last year, USTR and interagency partners highlighted growing concerns on worker rights in the areas of violence against and harassment of workers, unfair labour practices, freedom of association, collective bargaining and the need for a fair and transparent minimum wage process for garment workers.
The US urged Bangladesh to reform its labour laws to extend the rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining to the export processing zones and special economic zones, and to ease the trade union registration requirements for workers.
The USTR officials engaged with the US government agencies and textile and apparel brands, retailers, trade associations, and domestic and international labour stakeholders towards this end.
During the TICFA council meeting, the US also engaged with Bangladesh on a full range of pressing bilateral trade issues, including trade in agricultural products, digital trade policies, and intellectual property protection and enforcement.
"This resulted in Bangladesh addressing a number of longstanding US concerns."
For example, in May last year, the agriculture ministry published a regulatory order allowing the import of US cotton into Bangladesh without fumigation on arrival, removing a longstanding bilateral trade irritant.
Subsequently, American cotton exports to Bangladesh hit $339 million in 2023.
Bangladesh also amended its Seed Law, which reduced the time required between when companies obtain their dealership registration and when they can actually sell their seed varieties.
The US also consistently engaged with Bangladesh, through virtual and in-person meetings, on draft versions of the Data Protection Act, which resulted in significant positive changes for US commercial interests when it became law in November 2023, the report said.
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