The Government is still in talks with the United States regarding the 38% tariffs imposed on products from Guyana. The new tariffs took effect at midnight.

According to President Irfaan Ali, there are “some good discussions ongoing”, between the two countries.

“As we said earlier, the US is a strong partner of Guyana. We have a lot of discussions and conversations that are ongoing, and I am not going to go further at this point,” the President said.

The President was in the US last week when the new tariffs were announced.

The US has claimed that Guyana imposes tariffs of 76% on imports from America, triggering the 38% reciprocal tariffs on Guyana, which would represent half of the tariffs faced by US Products. However, economists have noted that it appears as though the US is referring to trade deficits as tariffs on its exports.

According to President Ali, the Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, and the Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh are expected to meet with exporters later this week to have a better understanding of the impact.

“I have asked the Minister of Finance and I know the 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 and the current circumstances but there are some good discussions going on,” the President said.

Last week, Vice President Jagdeo said that he has been studying the trade data between Guyana and the US, and that data points to Guyana importing far more from the US than it exports to the US. According to him, the US benefits from a trade surplus when it comes to Guyana.

He said that import data from the country would form part of the discussions with the US Administration.

The increase in the tariffs would result in products being imported to the United States fetching a higher price on the market. Exporters and manufacturers fear that with increased prices, the demand for their products could fall, resulting in less earnings and profits.

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