Failure to prepare is preparing to fail
Apr 04, 2025
Dear Editor,
Trump has been speaking about increasing tariffs for months. Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, recently visited, and adequate preparations were not made to ensure that Guyana’s exports were secured, and our trade agreements with the U.S. were on equal footing in order to avoid reciprocal tariffs that would lead to reduced competitiveness of our goods. Instead, we kept hearing about many less important issues over and over to nauseam, such as the VP’s rants about the Mohameds. The government should have already analyzed the trade agreements with the U.S. and made changes in preparation for Marco Rubio’s visit in order to avoid any interruption in our exports, and they should have also capitalized on the reduction in competitiveness of other countries who export similar products to the U.S.
The government must be better prepared for changes in the global economic environment. Increased focus on the important issues needs to take place. As a result of the poor preparation for the change in tariffs the growth in several key sectors that depend on exports is now at risk. It would have also been prudent for the government to have negotiated and renegotiated several trade agreements with EU members in order to capitalize on the gaps created by the trade war in markets where our products would be competitive.
The poor preparation shown in this instance echoes of the poor preparation for the signing of the current PSA with Exxon. The loss of income has been tremendous and the continued lack of proper preparation may prove equally or more damaging to the affected sectors. Those in leadership must do the job at hand in a thorough, efficient and effective manner. Do the job properly or allow others more capable to get it done.
Sincerely,
Mr. Jamil Changlee
Chairman
The Cooperative Republicans of Guyana
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