A proposed increase in United States tariffs on imports from Guyana to 12 per cent is unlikely to significantly affect the country's largest export sectors.
This is according to former Head of the US Foreign Commercial Service, Arun Venkataraman.
Speaking at the "Growing Business with the United States" luncheon hosted by the World Trade Center Georgetown on Wednesday, Venkataraman outlined how recent changes in US trade policy could affect Guyanese exporters.
According to Venkataraman, Guyana is currently subject to the same 10 per cent universal tariff rate applied to many countries, however, the administration has proposed increasing that rate.
"This rate may increase to 12% based on a recent — as of just two weeks ago — country-specific rate proposed by the administration following a forced labour investigation. This rate will also be applied to certain other Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago," he said.
Venkataraman said Guyana exports more than US$5 billion in goods annually to the United States, with petroleum accounting for approximately 95 per cent of those exports.
High-grade bauxite, which is used in US aluminium production, also continues to benefit from tariff exemptions.
Despite the proposed increase, Venkataraman said the overall effect on Guyana's exports is expected to remain limited.
"Still, the aggregate effect of the tariffs on Guyana's exports is likely to continue to be limited given the current exemptions for petroleum products and bauxite. If anything, the most significant harm, unfortunately, is likely to be in suppressing new categories of exports to the United States from other developing industries in Guyana in particular, such as agricultural production," he said.
The former US Commerce official suggested that emerging sectors, including non-oil exports, may face greater challenges entering the US market under the revised trade framework.
He nevertheless maintained that Guyanese businesses remain competitive since exporters from many other countries are facing similar tariff conditions under the evolving US trade policy landscape.