In his first speech after assuming the presidency of USA, Donald Trump He said, among other things, that an immediate reform “of the trade system to protect Americans and their families will begin.” “I will impose tariffs and taxes to foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said.
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Instantly, the alarms were lit by the relevance of the northern country for Peru. Currently, the US is the second most important commercial partner for our economy and the main destination for Peruvian agro -exports.
According to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), between October 2023 and September 2024, the United States imported fruit mainly from Mexico (37%of the total), Peru (8%), Chile (8%), Guatemala (Guatemala ( 5%) and Costa Rica (5%). In that period, the Peruvian market was positioned as the main blueberry supplier in the analysis period.
Other products from Peru that have high demand are fresh avocado, organic coffee without toast, grapes, tangerine and asparagus. In addition to the agricultural sector, fish oil, frozen parakeet, gold, copper, clothing, among others are also sold.
In total, in 12 months the Exports Peruvians to the US added US $ 6,126 million, while imports US $ 6,897 million. That is, the balance is inclined towards this world power, which sells us mainly fuels, technology and metalworking products.
Calmly
Peru has a weapon that gives you peace of mind in these statements: the Free Trade Agreement (TLC). This commercial agreement was signed in Washington on April 12, 2006 and entered into force on February 1, 2009; That is, in less than a week he turns 16 since he became effective.
Both the director of the Global Economics and Business Research Center of the Exporters Association (ADEX), Edgar Vásquez, as the Executive Director of the Institute and Development of Foreign Trade (IDEXCAM) of the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL), Carlos Posada, said that you have to be calm because the FTA is a tool that protects Peruvian exports.
“We hope he Peru It would not have to be the focus of attention, because in terms of commerce we are more complementary. (…) Our exports are covered by the treaty and the few products that are not covered are not part of our export basket, ”said the representative of ADEX.
In Trump’s first management (2017-2021), Edgar Vásquez occupied the positions of Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Minister of the Sector, and although he recalled that at the beginning there was tension and uncertainty, then this was dissipated due to the “narrow relationship” that there are between the two countries.
In addition, he acknowledged that the Peruvian economy has the instruments to stick and minimize any effect on bilateral trade. Something that also stressed is that Peruvian exports only represent 0.3% of everything that the United States buys the world, so “Peru is not is the focus of attention regarding manufacturing industries.” “We have good communication, we are in a good moment of relationship,” he added.
For his part, Carlos Posada stressed that a factor that should be considered is that both countries do not compete directly in terms of what they produce, so he considered that there is no reason to believe that trade would be affected. What did notice is that you have to take the situation as an opportunity.
“We compete in that market with Mexico and China. So, if these countries are going to suffer some tariff increase, it will put us in a more competitive position, because they will have to pay a higher rate, ”he said.
On the side of the Peruvian government, the representative of the CCL He stated that you need to take this opportunity to aim to improve competitiveness. In that sense, he pointed out that it is not time to remove tools from exporters, as they wanted to do with the reduction or elimination of the drawback.
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