Bangladesh Loses Second Place in US Apparel Exports Despite Trade Deal and Billions of Dollars in Purchases

Special Correspondent. Dhaka, October 8, 2026.

Bangladesh’s ready-made garment exports to the world’s largest economy, the United States, have been hit hard. As a result, Bangladesh has lost its position as the second-largest single exporter of garments in the market and has dropped to third place.

Vietnam has always been the top exporter of garments to the US market; the country still retains its top position. Although Bangladesh has been in second place for a long time, China has regained that position at the end of August. This information was revealed from the latest statistics released by the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) under the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday (October 7).

According to the Autexa report, Bangladesh exported garments worth $5.39 billion (5.39 billion) to the US market in the first eight months of this year (January to August). This is 4.43 percent less than the same period last year. On the other hand, China has surpassed Bangladesh by exporting garments worth $5.63 billion (5.63 billion) during the same period, securing second place. However, due to geopolitical tensions and tariffs, China’s exports have also decreased by 39.39 percent compared to the January-August period of 2025.

Earlier, in the first seven months of this year (January-July), Bangladesh was ahead by exporting garments worth $4.6589 billion, but China surpassed it in the overall figure for August.

The United States is the largest single market for Bangladesh’s ready-made garments. It accounts for about 20 percent of the country’s total garment export revenue. In 2022, Bangladesh’s garment exports to the US market reached a record 36 percent growth of $9.73 billion. However, in 2023, due to the impact of high global inflation and rising interest rates, it declined by 25 percent to $7.29 billion. In 2024, exports increased slightly to $7.34 billion and in 2025, they grew by about 12 percent to $8.2 billion.

The report also shows a general slowdown in the US market. During January-August of this year, US traders imported a total of $49.07 billion worth of ready-made garments from the global market, down 7.42 percent from the same period last year. The import volume in the first eight months of last year was $53 billion.

Vietnam maintained its position as the top apparel supplier to the United States in the first eight months of the recession, but exports fell 0.76 percent to $197.56 billion due to overall demand declines.

According to some analysts, Bangladesh had to face a kind of pressure to make a trade agreement. The aim was to secure the garment industry’s access to the US market. But they believe that the benefits of the agreement have not been realized in reality. Bangladesh has already signed billions of dollars in purchase agreements from the US, including long-term US LNG, agricultural and poultry products, and 25 Boeing aircraft. However, in reality, the collapse of the garment sector’s exports could not be prevented.

According to them, factors such as tariff rates, advantages of competing countries, and rising production costs have held Bangladesh back.