Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Moscow, May 21 – Shortly before reaching half a year of his return to power, United States President Donald Trump is keeping several Latin American countries in suspense. Now it's about a bill, introduced last week by the ruling Republican Party in the House of Representatives.
The initiative would impose a 5% tax on remittances abroad by non-citizens. If implemented, this would be added to an existing rate of between 5% and 10% on transfers via Western Union and MoneyGram International, the services most used by migrants, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
These remittances constitute, for example, approximately 21% of El Salvador's gross domestic product (GDP). Despite its agreement with the United States to receive suspected criminals, El Salvador could become one of the countries most affected by this bill.
Nos ocupa la reciente propuesta de imponer un impuesto del 5% a las remesas de nuestros connacionales en Estados Unidos. Lejos de ser un lujo, representan el fruto del trabajo honesto. Por ello, desde la CONAGO nos pronunciamos en defensa de la dignidad y del esfuerzo que… pic.twitter.com/b28RQk6qQJ
— Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla (@ARBedolla) May 20, 2025
Honduras, which has served as an intermediary for the deportation of immigrants, would also face a 21% blow to its GDP. While in Guatemala, another nation that has remittances as a crucial source for its economy, they represent 17%.
Further down on Bloomberg's list, compiled with World Bank data, are the Dominican Republic (7%) and Mexico (4%). In fact, last week the Central Bank of the Caribbean island acknowledged that these resources "are important for development, as they generate a multiplier effect on consumption, investment, and financing for the most vulnerable sectors."
As on other occasions, Trump's economic actions have a particular impact on Mexico, which, in addition to being its neighbor, has become its main trading partner. Several authorities are already lobbying to prevent the plan's approval.
This Tuesday, Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, met with Undersecretary of State Christopher Landau to remind him that remittances "were not burdensome or luxury transfers, but rather went directly to the basic expenses of low-income families."
"I expressed our concern about the repercussions that Mexican workers and their employers would have from the application of the tax on remittances sent to their families," Moctezuma added in X.
Various studies show that in recent years, remittances have also played a significant role in South America's GDP, from Ecuador (4.6%) to Colombia (2.8%) and Peru (1.7%).
Last February, when Trump was only a few weeks in office, the Colombian Financial Corporation (Corficolombiana) reported that 53% of remittances entering the nation in 2024 came from the US, recently reaching historic highs. (Text and photo: RT)
