US buyers have begun halting orders from Bangladesh, the world’s second-biggest garment manufacturer, after punishing US tariffs, leaders of the South Asian nation’s critical industry warned on Monday.Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in Bangladesh and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard in a student-led revolution that toppled the government last year.US President Donald Trump hit Bangladesh with punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Wednesday, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton products.Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahman, managing director of Essensor Footwear and Leather Products, said he received a letter from one of his buyers requesting a shipment halt.”My buyer asked me to stop a shipment of leather goods — including bags, belts, and wallets — worth $300,000 on Sunday,” Rahman told AFP.”He’s a long-time buyer and now both of us are in limbo over the issue.”Rahman, who has been operating since 2008, usually sends goods averaging about $100,000 to the United States every month.Bangladesh exported approximately $8.4 billion worth of goods to the United States last year, of which $7.34 billion came from the ready-made garments sector.Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo also quoted AKM Saifur Rahman, CEO of ready-made garments producer Wikitex-BD, saying that his US buyer had requested a halt to a shipment worth $150,000.”My US buyer said it is not possible to pass the extra cost on to their clients, so we need to lower the price”, Rahman told the daily.- ‘Request your patience’ -Md Anwar Hossain, government-appointed administrator of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), sent a letter to US-based buyers pleading for understanding.”We are aware that several brands and retailers have already reached out to their Bangladeshi suppliers, expressing concern and, in some cases, discussing possible measures to mitigate the impact”, Hossain wrote.”We understand the urgency, but transferring the burden downstream to suppliers at this early stage will only exacerbate the stress,” he added.”We humbly request your patience and support during this period as Bangladesh pursues a meaningful resolution.”But former BGMEA director Mohiuddin Rubel said some buyers have already asked for shipments to be put on hold until further notice.”In particular, smaller buyers are pressuring suppliers to either absorb the full tariff, or share the cost,” Rubel told AFP.Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who held an emergency meeting on Saturday to assess the impact of the tariffs, is writing to Trump about the impact, his press secretary Shafiqul Alam said Sunday.

Monday’s stock market collapses in Asia and Europe after China retaliated to steep US tariffs revived memories of similar market turmoil after the Covid pandemic and the last global financial crisis.Analysts called the falls “historic” and some even described it as a “bloodbath”, recalling previous collapses since the start of the last century.- 2020: Pandemic -Global stocks crashed in March 2020 after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, putting much of the world under lockdown. On March 12, 2020 — the day after the announcement — Paris fell 12 percent, Madrid 14 percent and Milan 17 percent. London dropped 11 percent and New York 10 percent in the worst fall since 1987.Further falls came over the following days, with US indexes dropping more than 12 percent.The rapid response by national governments, which dug deep to keep their economies afloat, helped most markets rebound within months.- 2008: Subprime crisis -The 2008 global financial crisis was caused by bankers in the United States giving subprime mortgages to people on shaky financial footing and then selling them off as investments, fuelling a housing boom.When borrowers became unable to pay their mortgages, millions lost their homes, the stock market crashed and the banking system buckled, culminating with the dramatic bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers.From January to October that year, the world’s main stock markets fell between 30 and 50 percent.- 2000: Dot.com bubble -The start of the millennium saw the deflation of the tech bubble caused by venture capitalists throwing money at unproven companies.From a record 5,048.62 points on March 10, 2000, the US tech-heavy Nasdaq index lost 39.3 percent in value over the year.Many internet startups went out of business.- 1987: Black Monday -Wall Street crashed on October 19, 1987, on the back of large US trade and budget deficits and interest rates hikes. The Dow Jones index lost 22.6 percent, causing panic on markets worldwide.- 1929: Wall Street collapse -October 24, 1929 became known as “Black Thursday” on Wall Street after a bull market imploded, causing the Dow Jones to lose more than 22 percent of its value at the start of trade.Stocks recouped most lost ground during the day but the rot set in: October 28 and 29 also saw huge losses in a crisis that marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States and a global economic crisis.burs-phz/lth