“The United States is our largest export market. Definitely, what we see are some opportunities in many sectors of exploitation in the midst of this change that is emerging in the world, “confessed the Minister of Commerce and Industries (MICI), Julio Moltó, when questioned about the actions that the country is doing in the midst of the tariff policies that the United States has been implementing against several countries.

For Moltó, among the opportunities that are emerging has to do with the rapprochement that several North American companies have made.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, decided to apply the imposition of a reciprocal tariff of 10% on all Panamanian imports, as of April 5, with the exception of those goods that, by that date, are already in final transit to the United States.

The tax will apply to certain products such as minerals; some wood derivatives, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors will be exempt.

Moltó recalled that once the United States announced its decision, the national government met with the exporters, since “they are definitely new rules in a world that is changing due to sovereign decisions that cannot be controlled.”

“10% is the new 0%. So working on that is what we have to do with competitiveness and taking advantage of the Panamanian logistics sector,” said the head of the MICI.

He added that “with the productive and export sector of Panama they talked to analyze what measures we can have to continue supporting them and what doors we can open to definitely try to negotiate what rates are available.”

The MICI reported through a press release that “the trade policy measures to face the effects of free trade claimed by the United States to adopt this increase in tariffs should conform to the commitments that all countries have acquired within the framework of the WTO agreements and bilaterally to what was agreed in the Trade Promotion Treaty (TPC) between Panama and the United States, signed in 2007. Therefore, the scope of this decision and the ways to mitigate its impact are being analyzed, including efforts to achieve the exclusion of Panama from its application.”