The fresh gas price hike has become a major challenge for local industries at a time when they are at risk of experiencing a fall in exports to the US due to the new Trump tariffs, a trade expert said today.

New tariff rates and an increase in gas prices are not good decisions to encourage new investments, said Shams Mahmud, a former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"The government's gas price hike for new industries, following Trump's tariff rate announcement, has made us even more anxious," he added.

He made the comments at an event titled "The Emerging Landscape of Trade: Trump's Reciprocal Tariff and Its Implications for Bangladesh" at the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in Dhaka, organised by the Dacca Institute of Research and Analytics.

From now on, new industrial gas connections will have to pay Tk 40 per cubic metre, up from Tk 30, Mahmud said.

"It does not make any sense to open new factories at a time when the gas price is rising," he said.

Earlier on April 2, US President Donald Trump announced a minimum 10 percent tariff on all US imports, effective from April 5, and higher tariffs on imports from 57 countries.

After days of turmoil, stocks on Wall Street and across Asia surged in reaction to Trump's announcement that he was halting a levy hike for almost all nations for 90 days.

Meanwhile, Mahmud, also the managing director of Shasha Denims, a top denim manufacturer in Bangladesh, said that after the announcement of the new tariff rates, he had to give one of his buyers a 5 percent discount — otherwise, the buyer would have cancelled the order.

"If I give a 5 percent discount, I'll have to cut that from somewhere on my end," he added.

Deen Islam, an associate professor in the economics department of the University of Dhaka, said the US — which accounts for 18.97 percent of Bangladesh's total garment exports — is an important market for the South Asian country.

Now, if the orders decrease and garment workers lose their jobs, it will have a negative impact on Bangladesh's economy, he said.

"It is a must now to work in an organised way to quickly find a solution to the problem," he said.

Mamun-Ur-Rashid Askari, joint chief of the International Cooperation Division at the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, also spoke at the event.

Kazi Iqbal, senior research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, moderated the event.