Introduction

This brief explores how recent tariff changes are affecting Bangladesh’s garment industry and highlights insights from Better Work Bangladesh’s rapid data collection efforts.

The recent tariff shock underscores the importance of understanding how global developments translate into impacts at the factory level. In this context, Better Work Bangladesh (BWB) plays a vital role in generating real-time insights to guide effective responses across the industry.

Through its regular factory assessments, BWB monitors compliance with national labour law and international labour standards across eight key clusters. Ongoing advisory work and training sessions further help factories identify challenges and build capacity to address them.

More recently, BWB has expanded its data toolbox with rapid data collection instruments designed to capture factory perspectives on emerging shocks in near real time. Amid the uncertainty created by the new U.S. tariffs, the programme launched a Factory Pulse Tracker Survey to quickly assess how the policy shift was affecting factories’ expectations, production, and workforce dynamics.

Implemented online via Qualtrics in May 2025, the survey gathered 323 responses in about 10 days, covering around 65% of participating factories. This timing allowed the programme to capture early reactions precisely when uncertainty was highest, providing timely evidence for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and partners to inform mitigation strategies.