US reciprocal tariff to have “limited direct impact” on Guyana – IMF

…as Finance Minister meets with US trade representative
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that the United States’ (US) recent imposition of a 38 per cent reciprocal tariff on products from Guyana would have limited impact since the top local exports fall under the exemption category.
In the recently published IMF 2025 Article IV Consultation on Guyana, the Staff Report indicated that, “Recent tariff announcements are expected to have a limited direct impact on Guyana amid increased external risks.”
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced Global Reciprocal Tariffs that will be implemented against a number of countries exporting to goods to the North American nation.
Consequently, Guyana was slapped with a 38 per cent tariff rate that would be applied to all local exports to the US. This was in response to a 76 per cent tariff that Guyana was listed as imposing on US products.
However, the US’ reciprocal tariff carries exemptions on certain products including the top three commodities that Guyana exports to the North American nation.
Based on an Annex to the Executive Order signed by President Trump, instituting various percentages of tariffs for countries around the world, petroleum crude, aluminum ore and gold are exempted.
According to the IMF Staff Report, “…only 2 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in exports is subject to the tariff, as 90 per cent of Guyana’s exports to the United States—comprising almost entirely petroleum, with small shares of gold and aluminum— is exempt from the April 2nd tariffs (although aluminum faces a 25 per cent tariff as per Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act).”
Figures from 2024 on Guyana’s highest exports to the US showed that crude export totaled US$3.1 billion, aluminum US$36.9 million and gold US$16.6 million.
Other major exports to the North American country are fish at US$19 million, molasses, sugar and honey at US$8.7 million, alcoholic beverages at US$6.5 million, measuring/checking instruments at US$5 million, and fish at US$3.1 million.
Despite the US tariffs being placed on paused for 90 days since April 9, the Guyana Government had been keen on engaging the US Administration on this issue.
In fact, Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, recently met with the US Trade Representative, Ambassador Jameson Greer, to discuss the tariff that has been a source of concern for local exporters.
During his weekly press conference on Thursday, Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo revealed that the meeting focused on explaining the economic context of the surplus, including the nascent nature of Guyana’s oil and gas industry and the dominant role US companies play in its development.
“It is the quiet diplomacy that we’ll work through. And we’re working with the US Government so that they understand why the trade surplus arose. It’s mainly because of our export of oil, and most of that is from Exxon, a US company. So, that is the approach we will take, not planning retaliatory tariffs,” Dr Jagdeo posited.
Addressing calls in some quarters for reciprocal tariffs or retaliatory policies, the Government of Guyana is firmly rejecting any such approach, reiterating instead its dedication to diplomatic engagement and economic cooperation. In fact, Dr Jagdeo dismissed the idea as absurd and counterproductive.
“How could a country like ours, with a bilateral trade that we have with the United States of America, plan retaliatory tariffs against the United States of America as one of the menu of measures to address this matter? Everything has to lead to one conclusion – cooperation [and] working with the US to overcome this, not retaliation. What are you going to retaliate against? Even the big countries in the world fear this. Mexico, where they have massive trade surpluses, fear this: Mexico, Canada, the European Union (EU). They’re cautious with retaliatory measures, and they want Guyana to pursue retaliatory measures,” he declared.
In 2024, Guyana reported that it exported US$3.3 billion in products to the US while importing US$2.56 billion, leading to a surplus of $799 million. But the US report to UN Comtrade shows that Guyana exported US$5.5 billion in products to the US and imported only US$1.3 billion, leading to a surplus of over US$4 billion.
However, the VP had previously pointed out that based on calculations, this excessive trade surplus, which has only been in recent years, was used to calculate the tariffs.
“Clearly, there is room for us to work with the US partners to clarify this information… We want to point out to the United States of America, because we have good import data, that we are importing much more from the [US] than what is reported by the US to the UN Comtrade system,” Jagdeo had noted a previous press conference.