Bangladesh Opens Ports to U.S. Warships

Bangladesh and the United States are in the final stage of signing strategic defense agreements that would grant U.S. military access to the country’s port and airfield infrastructure.

A new article by the analytical center SOLID INFO reports on this.

During the visit of a delegation from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to Dhaka on May 5-7, 2026, the parties discussed implementation terms for the previously signed Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART).

President Donald Trump, in a personal letter to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, linked further economic preferences to the completion of two defense agreements: the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA).

The signing of the ACSA would allow U.S. warships and aircraft to use Bangladeshi ports and airfields for maintenance, refueling, and resupply, including strategic hubs in Chittagong and Matarbari.

Together with the GSOMIA agreement, which provides for intelligence sharing, this would give the United States a continuous monitoring zone over the Bay of Bengal and access routes from Chinese energy corridors to the Indian Ocean.
For Bangladesh, opening ports to the Pentagon is the price for maintaining a preferential 19% tariff on textiles and a duty-free regime, which is critical for the country’s economy during the crisis.

At the same time, the move would significantly shift Dhaka’s geopolitical alignment, as it has long relied on Chinese investment in port infrastructure and sources around 70% of its weapons from China.

For China, this development would undermine its “land bypassing the Strait of Malacca” strategy. Beijing’s multibillion-dollar investments in the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and oil pipelines to the port of Kyaukphyu would lose value as a “safe rear” due to increased U.S. monitoring of maritime exit routes.