SIB Reports Steep 35% Decline in Belize-U.S. Trade

On Wednesday, the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) reported a significant drop in domestic exports to the United States. In the second quarter of 2025, exports to the U.S. fell by nearly twenty-nine million dollars, a decline of more than thirty-five percent. Exports to the U.K. and CARICOM also dipped, but by less than five percent. Earlier this year, President Trump introduced new tariffs on all countries exporting to the U.S., including a ten percent tariff on Belize, however this only came into effect later in our second quarter. We asked SIB Director General, Diana Castillo, whether this decline signals broader pressures on Belize’s exports, and here’s what she had to say.

 

Diana Castillo, Director General, Statistical Institute of Belize

“I don’t know that we can say that as yet. What we saw for, at least for the month of August that the biggest contributor to the drop would’ve been sugar, Correct. For the month of August. And that had to do with, on the one hand you have different timings and sugar shipments and so on. Then you have a drop in the market price for sugar as well. So there is that. So, I can’t, I don’t think that we can say as yet. Yeah, it’s kind of early.”