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Kyle A. Richardson is the editorial director of Promo Marketing. He joined the company in 2006 brings more than a decade of publishing, marketing and media experience to the magazine. If you see him, buy him a drink.

Bangladesh said it has met the conditions put forward by the U.S. for better safety and workers' rights in its factories that were essential to regain preferential trade status the impoverished South Asian nation lost in 2013 after two disasters killed 1,500 garment workers.

The preferential trade status does not cover Bangladesh's influential garment industry, which helps the country earn $25 billion annually and mainly exports to the U.S. and Europe. But Dhaka has long lobbied to have duty-free access to the U.S., and the lost status was seen as a big blow to that goal.

The United States said Friday that it was not ready to restore special trade benefits to Bangladesh until the country does more for worker safety and rights in its crucial apparel sector.

Nearly two years after more than 1,100 garment workers were crushed to death in the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building near Dhaka, the U.S. Trade Representative said the Bangladesh government needs to complete inspection of hundreds more plants before the benefits are restored.

"Made in China" will be a less frequent sight in U.S. clothing stores if the United States has its way in a new trade pact negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations. Washington aims to engineer a deal where Vietnam, set to be one of the big winners among the members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), would win apparel market share from China and other non-members, rather than Mexico and Central America. Today, thanks to regional trade deals half of U.S. yarn and textile exports head south of the border.

The exports of textile and apparel from the United States increased by 3.99 percent to $1.861 billion in January 2014, compared to exports of $1.79 billion made during the corresponding period of last year, data from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed.

Category-wise, apparel exports rose marginally by 1.91 percent year-on-year to $437.174 million, while textile mill products jumped 4.65 percent year-on-year to $1.424 billion during the first month of the current year.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has decided to hold its long-awaited IPO in the United States and is in discussions with six banks to underwrite the deal, in what is set to be the most high-profile public offering since Facebook's listing nearly two years ago.

Alibaba said in a statement on Sunday it had decided to begin the U.S. IPO process, ending months of speculation about where it would go public.

Separately, sources told Reuters that Alibaba is in discussions with Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley for lead underwriting roles.

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