Feedstuffs | 30 January 2026
USTR signs trade deals with El Salvador and Guatemala
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has signed trade deals this week with El Salvador and Guatemala. In November, USTR announced the frameworks for agreements with both countries, as well as two others with Ecuador and Argentina, paving the way for more open trade in the Latin American region.
El Salvador
Greer and El Salvador’s Minister of Economy María Luisa Hayem signed the U.S.-El Salvador Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Jan. 29, USTR said in a news release.
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, and the U.S. is its main trading partner, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. U.S. agricultural exports to El Salvador totaled $888 million in 2024, led by prepared foods, pork, dairy and poultry, among other products.
El Salvador committed to address trade barriers and provide non-discriminatory market access for U.S. agricultural products, including with respect to fumigation requirements, facility registration, product registration and accepting certificates issued by U.S. regulatory authorities. This includes maintaining science- and risk-based sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and removing unjustified SPS barriers, according to the text of the agreement. It also agreed not to restrict U.S. market access due to the use of certain geographical cheese and meat terms.
- Read also: US-El Salvador trade agreement text
The U.S., in exchange, zeroed out the reciprocal tariffs on qualifying exports from El Salvador and will provide preferential treatment to products that fall under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
“The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council is pleased to see the first agreement on reciprocal trade in the Western Hemisphere,” council president and chief executive officer Ryan LeGrand said in response to the news. “U.S. corn and distillers dried grains with solubles exports to El Salvador are up 124 and 98 percent, respectively, in the first quarter of the 2025/2026 marketing year, and with the agreement signed today, we hope we will continue to see a rise in trade for those products and others the council represents.”
Guatemala
Next, USTR announced Greer and Guatemala’s Minister of Economy Adriana Gabriela Garcia signed the U.S.-Guatemala Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Jan. 30. Guatemala is the largest economy in Central America and was the 16th-largest U.S. agricultural export market in 2024, including for feed ingredients, grains, poultry, processed produce and cotton, according to a USDA report.
The agreement with Guatemala builds on the preexisting partnership in the CAFTA-DR and includes many of the issues addressed in the El Salvador trade deal to eliminate barriers and maintain market access for U.S. goods. In exchange, the U.S. eliminated reciprocal tariffs on a list of products.
Guatemala will ensure that inspection and fumigation requirements for agricultural products are science and risk based and justified. It agreed to recognize U.S. SPS measures for agricultural products and accept certificates issued by U.S. regulatory authorities – including USDA sanitary certificates for dairy products. With respect to geographical indications, Guatemala agreed not to restrict market access due to the use of certain cheese and meat terms.
- Read also: US-Guatemala trade agreement text
Regarding GMOs, Guatemala committed to maintain “science- and risk-based regulatory frameworks and efficient authorization processes for products of agricultural biotechnology” and agreed to allow imports of such products already approved in the U.S. products “without requiring a pre-market review, deregulation, additional labeling requirements or approval by Guatemalan authorities.”
USDA notes that Guatemala’s regulatory framework treats most gene-edited crops as conventional, but the country maintains a de facto ban on growing GE crops such as corn and beans.
Greer said signing these new trade deals is “an important step in the deepening of our strategic partnerships in Latin America” – recognizing key “supply chain linkages” and strengthening U.S. export markets while lowering trade barriers.
The U.S. dairy industry celebrated the news as El Salvador and Guatemala both pledged to address barriers to U.S. agricultural products like dairy and agreed not to restrict market access due to the use of certain cheese and meat terms.
The National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council and Consortium for Common Food Names said these deals provide “important certainty for common name producers and exporters.”
“As European authorities increasingly seek to confiscate common food names across Latin America, the agreements unequivocally protect 38 common cheese names and 10 generic meat terms and send a clear signal by preserving our producers’ right to label their products with terms that have been used for generations in El Salvador and Guatemala,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of CCFN.
While U.S. dairy exports have duty-free access to El Salvador and Guatemala under CAFTA-DR, “securing durable market access and setting clear expectations with trading partners is essential for U.S. agriculture,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC.
“For dairy farmers, these agreements help to keep doors open to U.S. products,” NMPF president and CEO Gregg Doud said. “By protecting hard-won access and preventing new barriers from taking hold, the agreements support demand for U.S. milk and dairy products and strengthen the economic outlook for farm families across the country.”
