The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week announced that the United States and Guatemala have reached an agreement that will benefit U.S. poultry producers. Under the agreement, Guatemala has agreed to eliminate its 12.5-percent tariff on U.S. exports of fresh, frozen, and chilled chicken leg quarters four-and-a half years earlier than expected under the U.S. Central American-Dominican Republic free trade agreement, approved by Congress in 2005.
This notable achievement for U.S. poultry exporters is a result of negotiations that USTR commenced in February 2017. This market opening benefits U.S. poultry exporters and expands trade for U.S. agriculture producers, USTR said in a press release.
Under this new agreement, Guatemala and the United States also reached a bilateral agreement for Guatemala to establish a tariff rate quota allowing imports of 1,000 metric tons of processed chicken leg quarters to enter duty free each year through December 31, 2021. The tariffs and tariff-rate quota will be eliminated effective January 1, 2022. The United States already has a 98-percent share o the import market for chicken leg quarters in Guatemala, which is by far the largest importer of the project in the CAFTA-DR region.
U.S. agricultural exports to Guatemala were over $1.1 billion in 2016, of which U.S. chicken leg quarters were an important component–approximately 8 percent, or $82 million. Guatemala is the sixth largest export market for U.S. poultry. U.S. poultry exporters had a 98 percent market share of all imports of chicken leg quarters into Guatemala in 2016.
