If Guyana has its way in talks with the United States, recently announced tariffs on Guyanese exports would be reduced from 38% to 12%, OilNOW calculated.
Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Thursday (April 3) that his government’s trade data differs from data used by the United States to calculate the tariffs it will apply to Guyana.
The Donald Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on all countries on Wednesday, to take effect April 9. A 10% rate will be applied to goods from most countries, with exceptional higher tariffs for countries with which it has “the largest trade deficits,” the White House said.
If the U.S. has a trade deficit with a country, it imports more from that country than it exports to it. “We’re importing much more from the United States of America than is reported by the US to the UN COMTRADE system,” Jagdeo said during a press conference in Georgetown.
Guyana wants to show the United States that, based on its own data, the deficit is approximately US$800 million, not US$4.2 billion.
The Vice President said that the US submissions to the United Nations Commodity Trade (Comtrade) database show Guyana exported US$5.5 billion to the U.S., with the import figure significantly lower at US$1.3 billion. The deficit for the U.S., as a percentage of the US$5.5 billion Guyana exported to the U.S., is 76%. Divided by two, this results in 38%, which represents the coming tariff on goods from Guyana, Jagdeo explained.
However, Guyana’s data – seen by OilNOW – shows it exported nearly US$3.4 billion to the U.S. but imported just under US$2.6 billion. With these numbers, the tariff would work out to about 12%.
“Clearly, there is room for us to work with the U.S. partners to clarify this information,” Jagdeo stated.
He also said that Guyana’s trade surplus with the U.S. is largely due to its export of crude oil, which only started in 2020. He noted that the majority ownership of the massive oil project offshore Guyana – which accounted for the vast majority of Guyana’s exports to the U.S. last year – is with U.S. companies.
Together, ExxonMobil and Hess hold 75% of the interest in the Stabroek Block, where they discovered 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels and are producing more than 600,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2025. Guyana plans to argue this as part of its case to the U.S., Jagdeo said.
The Trump administration has clarified that crude oil is not subject to tariffs. The Guyana government is optimistic this will support its case for reduced tariffs on other goods.
OilNOW understands that natural gas, refined energy products as well as aluminum and gold are also exempted.
