The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has invited Bangladesh to resume the third and final round of tariff negotiations on July 29, Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman confirmed on Friday.

Bangladesh had earlier submitted its position paper to the USTR on July 22 and proposed July 26 for the talks. However, the USTR later scheduled the meeting for July 29 at its Washington, D.C. office.

Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin will lead the Bangladesh delegation. Depending on the final arrangement, the talks may take place in person or virtually. If held physically, the Bangladeshi team will depart for the U.S. on July 27.

While some private sector exporters may accompany the delegation, the negotiations will follow a government-to-government format, the commerce secretary added.

Secretary Rahman expressed optimism that the U.S. will lower its current 35 percent tariff on Bangladeshi goods following the talks. He pointed out that the U.S. has already reduced tariff rates for several countries—15 percent for Japan, 19 percent for Indonesia and the Philippines, and 20 percent for Vietnam.

Bangladesh has offered to open its market further to American goods, proposing zero-duty imports of U.S. commodities such as cotton, wheat, LNG, aircraft, and other agricultural products.

As part of these efforts, Bangladesh signed a deal on July 20 to import 0.7 million tonnes of wheat from U.S. suppliers.