The news appearing on her mobile that July evening confirmed the end of her eight years' employment at Lithe Garments factory, a major manufacturer in the country's industrial heartland.She was among 3,000 people laid off in one go, a sign of the industry's struggle with slowing exports, weak customer demand and stiff competition from rivals India and Vietnam."I am three months pregnant now. It is not possible to find a new job," said Aklima, 27."I will now dip into my savings, borrow some money. I don't know what's next," she told AFP in the garment hub of Gazipur. Aklima earned $250 a month, roughly matching the income of her husband, who works at another garment factory.With her redundancy, their son and elderly parents must now rely on a single wage.The layoffs are part of a wider downturn in an industry that accounts for around 80 percent of Bangladesh's export earnings.About 400 of the roughly 4,000 apparel factories in the country have shut over the past two years, eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Some of them had to shut down because they could not survive with exports declining in the "highly competitive" global market, BGMEA president Mahmudul Hasan Babu told AFP. Trade dealsThe closures have fuelled concern over the future of a sector that employs more than 4.5 million people, most of them women.While US tariffs are similar for apparel exporters across Asia, analysts say Bangladesh faces a greater challenge in Europe, its largest market, where India and Vietnam have gained ground through free-trade agreements.The pressure could intensify as Bangladesh is set to lose the duty-free preferential market access it enjoys in Europe and other countries because its status as a least-developed country is scheduled to expire in 2029.