Trump tariffs threaten 'seamstress to the world'

In Bangladesh, the factories that make clothing for export had remade themselves and raised national incomes along the way. They never bargained for a trade war, write Alex Travelli and Saif Hasnat from Dhaka and Savar, Bangladesh

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t was always going to be a hard year for Bangladesh. Last summer, amid an economic collapse, protesters toppled a tyrant and pushed the country to the brink of chaos.

Then a month ago, as a new government was still working to steady Bangladesh's economy, came the devastating news that the United States was placing a new 37% charge on the country's goods. Bangladesh relies on revenue from its exports to buy fuel, food and other essentials.

US President Donald Trump soon paused those tariffs on Bangladesh and dozens of other countries after the world recoiled. But the possibility they will be reinstated worries the workers who make a living in Bangladesh's garment factories.

Murshida Akhtar, 25, a migrant from northern Bangladesh living near Dhaka, has been supporting her family from sewing machines for the past five years. One day recently, she and 200 other workers, 70% of them women, signed on for new jobs at 4A Yarn Dyeing, in the industrial hub of Savar.

Ms Akhtar conceded feeling apprehension about the tariffs. But she was excited for the change in jobs. She expected to be paid $156 (about 5,100 baht) a month at 4A — slightly more than at her previous job and with a shorter commute and a nicer work environment.

"My worry is that orders will be reduced," she said. "Then there is less work."

Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people crammed onto a delta the size of Wisconsin, was derided as an economic lost cause after its violent birth in the 1970s. It has grown steadfastly since the 1980s on the back of its garment industry. Bangladeshi workers, and women in particular, made the country a seamstress to the world. In the process, the average Bangladeshi has become better off than the average citizen of even India, the giant country next door.

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