President Irfaan Ali has disclosed that the Government of Guyana will meet with local exporters to gauge the impact of the United States’ 38% reciprocal tariffs on Guyanese exports.
Last Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 38% tariff on goods from Guyana, citing that the country imposes 76% tariffs on U.S. goods in currency manipulation and trade barriers.
However, in a sudden shift, President Trump announced on Wednesday that he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on several countries while increasing pressure on China, leading to a surge in U.S. stocks. This decision followed intense financial market volatility, which had erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and caused an unsettling rise in U.S. government bond yields.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Local Content Summit on Tuesday, President Ali said, “As we said earlier, the U.S. is a strong partner of Guyana and we have a lot of discussions and conversations that are ongoing, and I’m not going to go further at this point.” He continued, “I have asked the Minister of Finance, and I know our Vice President too will be meeting with our exporters before the end of this week to have a sense from them as to the current impact or the current circumstances, but there are some good conversations going on.”
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo also addressed the tariff issue during his last press conference, noting that the move was not unexpected, as Trump had campaigned on addressing trade imbalances between the U.S. and various countries.
He explained that, in Guyana’s case, U.S. trade figures indicated a substantial trade surplus, with Guyana exporting more to the U.S. than it imported. However, Guyana’s figures differ significantly. To address the discrepancy, Jagdeo said that the government would work to clarify the difference in trade surplus data in hopes of potentially lowering the tariff. According to the United Nations COMTRADE, Guyana’s 2024 report shows $3.3 billion in exports to the U.S. and $2.56 billion in imports, leaving a trade surplus of $799 million. However, the U.S. report shows Guyana’s exports to the U.S. at $5.5 billion, with imports only at $1.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.1 billion.
“There is clearly room for us to work with the U.S. partners to clarify this information,” Jagdeo said. He assured Guyanese exporters that the government would work with them to mitigate the impact of the tariff and ensure continued access to U.S. and other international markets. “I want to assure all of our exporters that we’ll work with them as we learn more of the issue. We will be meeting with them and working to ensure they have the full support of the government so that we do not lose economic output, welfare, or jobs in the export industries,” Jagdeo emphasized.
