Bangladesh Urges China to Help Reduce Widening Trade Gap
Bangladesh has urged China to help narrow a trade deficit that has widened sharply over the past decade, with officials calling for increased Chinese investment, expanded market access for Bangladeshi exports, and faster progress toward a bilateral free trade agreement. The appeal, repeated across recent meetings between Bangladeshi and Chinese officials, reflects mounting concern in Dhaka over an imbalance that has left Bangladesh importing tens of times more from China than it exports in return.
Central bank data covering the period from fiscal year 2019-20 through September of fiscal year 2025-26 showed Bangladesh’s imports from China ranging between $11 billion and $20 billion annually, against exports amounting to only $500 million to $600 million over the same period. According to Export Promotion Bureau data, Bangladesh exported goods worth $742.50 million to China during July-May of the current fiscal year, edging closer to the $1 billion mark for the first time, up from $694.49 million in fiscal year 2024-25 and $715.37 million in fiscal year 2023-24. Yahoo!newsonair
A Deficit That Keeps Widening
The imbalance has continued to grow even as Bangladesh’s exports to China have shown modest improvement. According to Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh imported goods worth $18.19 billion from China in fiscal year 2024-25, accounting for around 27 percent of the country’s total import bill, up from $16.63 billion in fiscal year 2023-24. Quarterly imports reached $4.64 billion in July-September 2025 and $4.58 billion in October-December. newsonair
The roots of the imbalance lie in the structure of Bangladesh’s economy. Bangladesh imports nearly $20 billion worth of goods from China annually, mainly machinery, industrial equipment, and raw materials that power its factories, but exports only a fraction of that value in return. More than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports consist of ready-made garments, while China itself is the world’s largest apparel exporter, shipping nearly $300 billion worth of clothing annually and accounting for around 30 percent of the global market — leaving Bangladesh competing directly with its largest trading partner for the same global export category rather than complementing it. newsonairnewsonair
Officials Call for Investment, Not Just Trade Concessions
Bangladeshi officials have increasingly framed the solution less in terms of tariff concessions and more in terms of attracting Chinese capital and expertise into the country. Mohammad Aslam Muktadir, a Bangladeshi minister, told the opening ceremony of the Bangladesh-China Green Textile Expo in Dhaka: “Increased Chinese foreign direct investment is needed to help reduce the bilateral trade gap.” He also called for Chinese investment in reviving closed state-owned mills and factories, modernising the jute sector, expanding renewable energy, and promoting green industrialisation, while inviting Chinese investors to make meaningful investments in Bangladesh to create what he described as a win-win situation for both countries. yahooyahoo
Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi economist cited by The Daily Star, said Bangladesh needed to move beyond seeking isolated Chinese projects. He said Bangladesh should adopt a China-specific export strategy by identifying 20 to 30 promising products and supporting firms through certification, packaging, product adaptation, and stronger commercial representation in major Chinese cities, adding that Bangladeshi exporters also need direct connections with Chinese importers, retailers, supermarkets, and digital platforms. He said “Chinese participation will be critical because without their investment, market knowledge and distribution networks, it will be difficult to generate a meaningful export response from Bangladesh,” and recommended Bangladesh move toward investment-led production clusters rather than scattered individual projects. newsonairnewsonair
China-Bangladesh business representatives have echoed the call for deeper structural cooperation. Han, president of the China Enterprises Association in Bangladesh, said an accelerated Free Trade Agreement would be “a game changer” for Bangladesh’s export competitiveness, while progress on the agreement between Dhaka and Beijing had been relatively slow compared with Bangladesh’s other trade negotiations. He argued: “Bangladesh should understand that the FTA has two halves. The first half is about imports, but the second half is about Bangladesh positioning itself as export hub to export to global market by leverage China’s competitiveness in technology, equipment, material and semi-product, etc. Bangladesh can be transformed into a global export centre.” Yahoo!Yahoo!
Early Signs of Market Access Progress
There has been some incremental movement on the trade front. Han welcomed recent progress allowing fresh Bangladeshi mangoes to enter the Chinese market and expressed hope that jackfruit and other agricultural products would soon follow. China already offers Bangladesh preferential access under provisions for least developed countries, but duty-free benefits alone have failed to deliver a breakthrough in narrowing the deficit. Yahoo!newsonair
Regional and Global Impact
China is Bangladesh’s largest trading partner and one of its largest sources of development financing and infrastructure investment, giving Beijing substantial leverage over how the relationship evolves. Bangladesh’s pursuit of closer economic ties with China comes as the country navigates a broader, increasingly multipolar set of trade relationships, balancing longstanding economic ties to Western markets — which remain critical buyers of Bangladeshi garments — against deepening dependence on Chinese inputs, financing, and infrastructure development.
For Beijing, sustaining a close economic relationship with Bangladesh, including continued investment in infrastructure and industrial capacity, aligns with China’s broader Belt and Road Initiative objectives in South Asia, even as Dhaka presses for a more balanced trade relationship that reduces its persistent and growing deficit.
Background
China and Bangladesh established diplomatic relations in October 1975 and have since developed a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership,” with Chinese-backed infrastructure projects forming a significant share of the country’s development financing in recent years. Bangladesh has pursued a strategy of diversifying its trade relationships as it works toward graduating from least developed country status, a transition expected around 2026 that will alter its access to preferential trade terms with several partners. Bangladesh’s interim government, formed following the political transition of August 2024, has continued to prioritise the relationship with Beijing, with senior officials making China a focus of early overseas engagement under the new administration.
What Happens Next
Bangladeshi officials are expected to continue pressing China for expanded market access for agricultural and other non-garment exports, building on the recent approval for mango exports. Talks toward a bilateral Free Trade Agreement between Dhaka and Beijing are expected to continue, though business representatives on both sides have described progress as slower than Bangladesh’s negotiations with other trading partners. Bangladeshi economists have called for the government to pursue an investment-led strategy targeting specific export sectors and production clusters, rather than relying solely on existing preferential trade arrangements to narrow the deficit.
