28 Jun 2013

US downgrades trade ties with Bangladesh

11:40 am on 28 June 2013

The United States is withdrawing trade privileges from Bangladesh because of dangerous conditions for textile workers there.

A factory collapse near Dhaka killed 1129 people on 24 April.

Twelve people have so far been arrested over what happened, including the owner of the nine-storey complex.

The White House says duty-free trade privileges for Bangladesh will be suspended until safety conditions improve.

The BBC reports the Bangladeshi garment industry employs some four million people in Bangladesh, 80% of them women.

At least 117 workers were killed in a fire at Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia, near Dhaka, in November last year. In April 2005, 64 garment workers killed in building collapse in Savar.