PRESS RELEASE
Minister Maru Directs the Department of International Trade and Investment and National Trade Office to Undertake Immediate Review on the Impact of U.S Tariffs
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Port Moresby, April 7, 2025- Papua New Guinea (PNG) will not rush into taking any decisions on its future trade and investment relationship with the United States (U.S), says the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru.
Minister Maru said this in response to U.S President Donald Trump’s far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all U.S trading partners with 10% tariff on PNG exports. Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have openly reacted against such an imposition.
Minister Maru said: “For PNG, we will not react until we understand and fully appreciate the impact of this imposition on our country. We will first undertake a full review on the impact that U.S tariff is going to have on our goods that we export to the U.S and how it will affect companies who do business with the U.S especially companies like Air Niugini who buy a lot of aircraft parts from the U.S. We have to fully understand the impact that this tariff will have on our mining and petroleum companies and other sectors like the agriculture and fisheries. Clearly, the imposition of this tariff will make our goods very expensive, making our exports to the U.S less competitive while the countries who are not hit by these tariffs will continue to have a cheaper market access into the U.S market.”
Minister Maru has directed the Department of International Trade and Investment and the National Trade Office to consult with other Government Departments and Agencies, industries, Commodity Bodies and the private sector companies who will be affected by this U.S decision.
“They are to report back to the National Executive Council within the next three weeks with the full assessment on whether this tariff is going to affect PNG or there will be opportunities for us to take advantage of it to do business with other countries,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru further added: “In terms of direct import and export, U.S is a very small trading partner to PNG compared to China, Japan and Australia. U. S imports from PNG were US$80.9 million in 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.”
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Approved for Release
Hon. Richard Maru, BTech, MBA, OBE, MP
Minister for International Trade & Investment
