VP Jagdeo urges exporters not to panic
Apr 04, 2025
– says Govt. to clarify trade surplus data with U.S. Govt. which triggered 38% tariff
Kaieteur News- Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has assured Guyanese exporters that the government will work to clarify differences in trade surplus data with the United States government, which he believes played a role in the 38% reciprocal tariff on Guyanese products.
United States President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a 38% tariff on goods from Guyana and stated that this country is charging the US 76% tariffs in currency manipulation and trade barriers.
Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
However, at his press conference on Thursday, the Vice President explained that the move was not unexpected, given that Trump campaigned on addressing trade imbalances between the US and various countries. “So, President Trump’s announcement yesterday did not come as a surprise to us here in Guyana, this was anticipated, this was expected,” he said.
Further, he noted that in Guyana’s case, the US trade figures suggest a substantial trade surplus that Guyana exports more to the US than it imported, while Guyana’s data differs significantly. As a result, he assured Guyanese exporters that the government will seek to clarify the difference in the trade surplus data with the aim of potentially lowering the tariff.
Difference in Data
Guyana’s Vice President said that the government’s understanding of the reciprocal tariff is that countries exporting more to the US than importing face higher tariffs.
He said, “A number of people thought that it was based on our own trade barriers, that is, higher tariffs rates for goods coming from the US, that caused us to be in the bracket or in the category of higher reciprocal taxes. From what we looked at and have read, it seems as though all of the countries that have had higher reciprocal tariffs are countries that have been exporting more into the United States of America than they’re imprinting from the United States of America, that is countries that have a trade surplus with the United States of America…it seems as though that is the basis not individualized tariff barriers in each country.”
Using information from the United Nations COMTRADE, Jagdeo pointed out a significant difference between Guyana’s trade surplus figures versus the figures reported by the US. For 2024, Guyana’s report to UN COMTRADE states that the country exported US$3.3 billion to the US and imported US$2.56 billion, leaving a trade surplus of US$799 million. However, the US report to the UN COMTRADE presents drastically different figures, showing Guyana’s exports to the US for 2024 were US$5.5 billion and imports were only US$1.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$4.1 billion.
“So, clearly there is room for us to work with the US partners to clarify this information,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President stated, “We are still to work with the US government on the numbers and to see if that is what is applicable in our case, so clearly we would want to point out to the United States of America, cause we have good import data that we are importing much more from the united states of America than is reported by the US to the UN COMTRADE, and so that is one area where that can lead to a significant reduction in the trade surplus.”
Moreover, Jagdeo highlighted that another avenue of engagement with the US could show that the surge in Guyana’s trade surplus with the US over the past four years is mainly due to oil exports. According to US COMTRADE data, in 2020 the trade surplus from Guyana was US$69 million, in 2021 it was US$1.3 billion, in 2022 it was US$1.7 billion, in 2023 it was US$2 billion, and in 2024 it was US$4.1 billion.
“So, you would see clearly that our trade surplus is largely because of our export of oil in the last 4 years, that is why we have a major surplus with the United States of America, so we can clearly make that case and we can make the case that the majority ownership of the exporters of oil the company here is an American company Hess and Exxon, because they’re the majority owners for the venture that they have in Guyana that’s producing oil and gas,” Jagdeo explained.
Formula
Based on his understanding on the formula that was used to calculate the reciprocal tariff using the trade surplus, Jagdeo explained that the trade surplus of US$4.1 billion, is divided by the by total exports US$5.5 billion, and this figure is then multiplied by 100, arriving at the 76% which is then divided by two to determine a reciprocal tariff of 38%. “The bigger the surplus is in percentage terms, the higher the reciprocal tariff will be…and it’s across the board it is for friends and foe alike, the United States applied this right across the board on the basis of this formula that we think they applied,” he noted.
He explained that the government’s discussions with the United States government will have to show the points he made earlier that there is no inbuilt discrimination against US products coming into Guyanese markets and that there are no barriers to US products.
“So, we are looking forward to having that engagement with the US government,” he said.
Exemptions
Further, he noted that, according to the executive order issued by the Trump administration, some items are exempt from the reciprocal tariff. Jagdeo shared that the government reviewed Guyana’s top 10 exports to the US, which include petroleum crude, aluminum ore, fresh, chilled, or frozen fish, gold, molasses, sugar, honey, alcoholic beverages, measuring and checking instruments, prepared fish and crustacean products, wood, and wood manufactures.
He noted that according to the annex of the executive order petroleum, aluminum ore, and gold are among the items exempted from the higher tariff.
Do not panic
Further, he assured exporters that the government will work with them to mitigate the impact of the tariff and noted that there is no need to panic.
He said, “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, working with them to ensure that they can continue to access the US markets and other markets in the world and they will have the full support of the government of Guyana and so that we do not lose economic, welfare, or welfare associated with the loss of economic output, this is like people losing jobs etcetera in the export industries.”
(VP Jagdeo urges exporters not to panic)
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