Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said the Guyana Government will engage the United States administration on the new reciprocal tariffs, which will soon take effect, aiming to possibly reduce the import duty on local products.
“We are looking forward to having that engagement with the US government.
“And we will be working with (Guyanese) exporters to access US market and other markets so that no one will lose out,’ Jagdeo said at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
The US President said he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the U.S. and higher duties on dozens of other countries. Guyana will face a tariff rate of 38% based on President Trump’s new decision.
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The Vice President said the government expected trade decisions from the US President as he was clear about his goals to prioritise US trade ahead of the 2024 elections. Even so, Jagdeo believes there is room for the government to engage the Trump administration on a lower tariff rate.
Jagdeo explained that this higher rate Guyana has is likely based on the fact that Guyana exports more to the US than it imports from that country. With that trade surplus, he believes President Trump is making good on a promise to “balance the scales.”
In the first instance, Jagdeo believes that there may be reporting differences that lead to the higher tax rate for Guyana.
Based on information supplied by Guyana to the United Nations global trade platform, Comtrade, Guyana exported US$3.3 billion worth of goods to the US and imported US$2.56 billion from that country. With those figures, there is a trade surplus of about US$799 million. Based on figures reported by the US, however, Guyana’s exports to the US totalled US$5.5 billion, while imports stood at US$1.3 billion. Therefore, there was a trade surplus of $4.1 billion.
The trade surplus, Jagdeo clarified, may have been what the administration used to derive the 38% figure. But if the information is clarified, and both sides are able to reconcile the trade figures, Jagdeo believes the rate may come down as the trade surplus figure decreases.
“The bigger the surplus is in percentage terms, the higher would be your reciprocal tariff. It is across the board, it is for friend and foe alike
“We’re still to work closer with the US government on the numbers and to see if that is what is applicable in our case,” he said.
In the second instance, Jagdeo pointed out that the lion’s share of Guyana’s exports to the country in 2024- some US$3.1 billion- came from the petroleum sector. Since ExxonMobil and Hess, two US companies, have the majority share in the oil-producing consortium offshore Guyana, Jagdeo hopes the two countries can work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Finally, Jagdeo pointed out that there are exemptions to the tariffs. Those exemptions include petroleum products, aluminium ore and gold- three of the major Guyanese exports to the US. So even though the government will be engaging the US on the tariff, a substantial amount of exports will be unaffected.
Nevertheless, the Vice President stressed the government’s aim of engaging the US so that no local exporter feels any pressure. And he assured those exporters that the government will do all it can to support them.
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