The Guatemala government, through the Ministry of Economy (Mineco), confirmed to Free press That the meeting with the Office of the United States Commercial Representative (USTR, in English) will be on May 27 at Washington DC, and indicated who will form the high -level delegation that will travel to the United States for that appointment.
The delegation will be headed by the Minister of Economy, Gabriela García, who will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez and Guatemala ambassador to the United States, Hugo Beteta, El Mineco reported.
He adds that the meeting is intended to start high -level dialogue with the United States.
During a meeting with the private sector, which included business and export chambers, held on Tuesday, May 13, the President of the Republic, Bernardo Arévalo, announced that a high -level delegation will travel to Washington DC to hold meetings with US government authorities.
As part of this mission, the Guatemala government will present to the USTR the action plan that is already in implementation to address the concerns identified in the most recent report of commercial barriers, it was added in a bulletin.
Subsequently, meetings will be held with members of the Government, Congress and with American businessmen, in which the participation of representatives of the public and private sector of Guatemala is expected.
These dialogues are derived from the United States government decision to set a 10% tariff for imports of Guatemalan products to that country from April 2025. In its annual report “Estimation of the National Commerce on Barriers to Foreign Trade (NTE) 2025”, the USTR pointed out eight non -tariff commercial barriers to import products or operate in Guatemala.
Now, the Government and the private sector have worked in a matrix of measures that must be applied to resolve these barriers, in addition to seeking to reduce or eliminate the mentioned tariff.
The announcement of the appointment with the UST and the progress in the road map of the actions to address commercial barriers and strengthen the free access conditions of Guatemalan exports to the US market was made by the Government on Tuesday, May 13 during a meeting of the president with the private sector.
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In this also, officials of the Ministries of Economy (Mineco), Foreign Affairs (Minex), Finance (MINFIN), the SAT, as well as private and communication secretariats. The Cacif participated in the private sector; the Chambers of Agro (Camagro), Industry (CIG) and Commerce (CCG); Amcham; the Association of the costume industry and textiles (Vestex); the Association of Exporters of Guatemala (AGEXPORT); the Association of Independent Banano Producers (APIB); The National Coffee Association (Anacafé) and the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (Fundesa), according to data from that sector.
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On May 14, El Cacif, Camagro, Cig, Anacafé, the Chamber of Commerce and other entities spoke on their social networks in support of the high -level delegation that will travel to meetings in the United States.
Carla Caballeros, executive director of Camagro, consulted about which proposals will take the public sector to the USTR and the private sector to the rest of the meetings, explained in this regard:
The Government Delegation will only participate in the meeting with the USTR. “This is because official meetings, by definition, are among government authorities. As it has always worked in any negotiation, the private sector does not enter those meetings,” Knights added.
The public sector will carry out the proposal that has been worked together, focused on the improvement of technical aspects of trade facilitation and strategic actions on infrastructure and security issues that have been conversing and advancing between the governments of Guatemala and the United States, as the case of the Puerto Quetzal agreement, which “will undoubtedly be of great benefit for development and security,” said the executive.
Regarding the private sector delegation, he mentioned that “in the different cameras we have an institutional relationship strategy with the United States, so we regularly carry out activities and delegations that visit Washington and hold meetings with buyers, business associations and representatives of the government of that country.”
They also accompany the government on visits, as in May last year, and again they will do so in two weeks. However, the program is still in the process of coordination, but will include meetings with business organizations from the United States, buyers and some government and congress agencies.
Among these could be associations of agricultural producers, importers and clothing manufacturing, cotton, coffee and banana buyers, the American Chamber of Commerce, among others.
Fanny D. Estrada, Director of Institutional Relations of AGEXPORT, considers that it is good news that the USTR event has been scheduled for May 27, taking into account that the tail of countries that have requested a meeting and are waiting for date is long.
Until now there is only knowledge of meetings with countries such as China and the United Kingdom, but Guatemala could be in the first group of countries with the 10% tariff and that could be treated in this type of appointments, he added. He indicated that they have high expectations, since having the meeting in two weeks “is a good sign”, because at their discretion, that indicates that Guatemala was considered within the first list of countries.
However, Guatemala must not only present actions for trade facilitation.
According to D. Estrada, President Arévalo said at the recent meeting that they have a technical proposal related to trade facilitation, product of intense work, and also includes a component of political measures linked to migrants and other issues of interest to the United States.
Apart from the high -level delegation, the president also mentioned a country delegation, in which he indicated that he will participate to members of the private sector, but it is not yet known how it will be integrated. Meanwhile, Agexport is establishing contacts with his counterparts in the US., For whom it is also important that this 10% tariff is eliminated, that is, importers, associations, distributors and others, who do not want to transfer that 10% to the consumer, not to cause inflation. Currently, Guatemalan producers and exporters are absorbing that cost.