-Finance Minister to meet affected domestic exporters today

GUYANA is ready to present the facts to its long-standing ally, the United States (U.S.), in view of the current tariff pause, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary and Guyana’s Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo has disclosed.

He said this to reporters during a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House.

The Vice-President said: “So we still believe that it is through engagement with the United States of America that we have to resolve this matter, and that will be the approach. We have all the facts ready to present.”

Despite the opposition and other voices having a hostile approach to this matter, Dr Jagdeo emphasised that this is not the way that Guyana will act.

He underscored that there should be no behaviour that is antagonistic.

“President Trump has announced that the reciprocal tax has been put on hold for 90 days, so that every country in the world now would pay the 10 per cent across-the-board tariff… The United States of America [now] is prepared to have discussions with countries about the reciprocal acts, and that 75 countries have already reached out to the United States of America to address the question of the reciprocal tariffs.

“We’re one of those countries,” the VP said.

In a dramatic change of policy just hours after levies against roughly 60 of America’s trading partners kicked in, Trump said he was authorising a universal “lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%” as negotiations continued.
Dr Jagdeo once again noted that the tariff announcement does not come as a surprise, since President Trump had spoken extensively about trade during his election campaign,
highlighting how he planned to use it as a vehicle to rebalance trade between his country and the rest of the world.

He also stated that the Guyana Government is meeting with domestic exporters, and he used the opportunity to reiterate that there should not be any panic.

The Vice-President further noted that Senior Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh will meet with those domestic exporters on Friday.

While Guyana’s top exports are exempted from the tariff, Dr Jagdeo explained that fish, shrimp, and agricultural goods are among the exports that could be affected.

He said these exports are “smaller in magnitude but very impactful on people’s lives.”