Tariffs suspended for all countries except China, questions arise over impact of Yunus's letter

US President Donald Trump recently announced the suspension of reciprocal tariffs imposed on all countries of the world except China for 90 days. However, centring on this announcement, some Bangladeshi media outlets have claimed that Trump took this decision in response to a letter from Dr Muhammad Yunus. Yet reality tells a different story. It was clearly stated in Trump's announcement that this tariff pause decision includes not just Bangladesh, but all countries except China.

He wrote on Truth Social, "I have authorized a 90-day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately."

In addition, the President explicitly mentioned keeping China out of this exemption, "Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately."

Although in that letter sent to the US President on Monday (April 7), the Chief Adviser called upon the United States to give Bangladesh time so that a balanced trade relationship can be built by increasing imports and reforming the tariff structure. Towards the end of the letter, Dr Yunus wrote requesting, I request you to consider suspending the reciprocal tariffs imposed on export products from Bangladesh for three months.

I sincerely hope that you will accept this request of ours. But, no mention of Dr Yunus's letter was found in any statement published by Trump or the White House. Yet multiple media outlets of Bangladesh have claimed that Trump gave the "tariff suspension facility to Bangladesh" in response to Yunus's letter. Explaining this decision, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that this was part of the Trump administration's long-term strategy.

Scott Bessent is the White House economic adviser and current Treasury Secretary—who was previously directly involved with Trump in various important economic plans. He said, "We told the world: Do not retaliate and you will be rewarded." It is understood from this statement that this tariff pause is primarily a strategy to continue discussions with countries other than China.

According to him, this is part of Trump's pre-planned strategy. Basically, this decision of the Trump administration is part of a major political and economic strategy—especially taking a strict stance against China and keeping the door for talks open with other partners. If Trump had taken this decision in response to a single letter from Dr Muhammad Yunus, the question then arises, if there was a special exemption for Bangladesh, why did the same decision apply to Vietnam, Europe, Mexico, and India as well?