Guyana to defend record at US trade rep hearing on blocking forced labour-made imports

Guyana is preparing to defend its trade policy against a United States Trade Representative (USTR) finding that it is importing forced labour-made products which threatens the imposition of a 12.5 percent tariff on new exports to the US, foreign secretary Robert Persaud said on Tuesday.

“At the public hearing, Guyana will present information on efforts being made to prevent and prohibit all aspects of forced labour, including the issue of forced labour imports,” Mr Persaud said when contacted by Demerara Waves Online News.

The USTR says it will hold hearings about the proposed actions in these investigations on July 7.

Mr Persaud said the Guyana government, through the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning, has submitted its request to appear at a public hearing in Washington, D.C., to respond to statements made in the recently published report by the USTR in relation to Section 301 on investigations of “Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure to Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor.”

The foreign secretary remarked that the US is one of Guyana’s largest and longstanding trading partners, and the South American nation would do everything to eliminate obstacles to trade.

“The Government of Guyana remains committed to working closely with the United States to address trade barriers through meaningful dialogue and explore new areas of trade and investment,” he said.

If the USTR gets its way, the new tariff would be applicable to 59 other countries including the islands of The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago.

For economies that impose a forced labor import prohibition, that have committed to impose and enforce such a prohibition through an agreement on reciprocal trade, or economies that have imposed a partial regime with the effect of preventing the importation of certain forced labor goods, the USTR proposes 10% as the rate of additional duties.

For all other economies, the USTR proposes 12.5% as the rate of additional duty.

“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,” former head of the US Foreign Commercial Service Arun Venkataraman said on June 17 at a World Trade Centre Georgetown-organised luncheon on the topic “Growing business with the United States – strategies for navigating business with the United States given the current global geopolitical landscape”.

The American trade expert said the aggregate effect of the tariff on Guyana’s exports was likely to continue to be limited given the current exemptions for petroleum products and bauxite.