Dear Editor,
A Response to U.S. Ambassador Theriot’s Remarks on Guyana’s Procurement and Tax Policy
There is an old and well-understood principle in international relations: diplomacy works best when it is conducted with discretion, mutual respect, and an acute awareness of the boundaries that separate advocacy from interference. It is a principle that has guided productive bilateral relationships for centuries, and one that appears to have been somewhat overlooked in recent remarks made by United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Energy Perspectives podcast, Ambassador Theriot called on Guyana to modernize its tender process, digitize procurement submissions, strengthen oversight of public contracts, and resolve the double taxation burden facing American companies operating here.
On the surface, these may appear to be reasonable business concerns. Examined more carefully, however, they represent a pattern of public commentary that raises legitimate questions about the appropriate role of a foreign envoy in the domestic policy affairs of a sovereign host nation.
Ambassadors serve a vital and respected function in international relations. They are the living bridge between two nations — tasked with fostering trade, strengthening cultural ties, protecting their citizens abroad, and communicating their government’s positions through the appropriate channels. What they are not empowered to do — at least not without consequence to the relationship — is publicly prescribe policy reform to the governments before which they are accredited.
One need only apply the most basic test of reciprocity to appreciate the concern. Would Guyana’s Ambassador to Washington be received warmly if he took to an American media platform to publicly urge the U.S. Congress to overhaul its federal procurement system, or to demand that the Internal Revenue Service restructure its tax obligations to accommodate Guyanese businesses? The answer is self-evident.
Such remarks would be considered overreach at best, and a diplomatic affront at worst. The standard cannot — and should not — be different simply because the commentary flows in the other direction.
What makes Ambassador Theriot’s remarks particularly striking is that they seem to overlook the extraordinary lengths to which Guyana has already gone to attract and accommodate foreign direct investment — American investment, specifically.
The terms under which ExxonMobil and its partners operate in Guyana’s offshore petroleum sector are, by any objective measure, among the most generous production sharing agreements in the world. Guyanese civil society, academics, and even some government officials have repeatedly raised concerns about whether the country negotiated adequately on behalf of its own citizens.
Local businesses, in the meantime, operate without the protective cushion of those concessions, often struggling to compete in a landscape that has been deliberately shaped to favor large international players.
American companies enjoy the ability to repatriate capital freely, benefit from a relatively stable and dollarized business environment, and operate in a jurisdiction that has bent over backwards to present itself as investor-friendly. To then hear public calls for further accommodation — this time in the form of structural reforms to national procurement policy — is, frankly, difficult to reconcile with any fair reading of the existing investment landscape.
The Ambassador’s concern about the absence of a bilateral tax treaty between the United States and Guyana is a legitimate one, and it is an issue that genuinely warrants resolution. Guyana has successfully negotiated double taxation agreements with Canada, the United Kingdom, CARICOM nations, and the United Arab Emirates. There is no principled reason why a similar arrangement with the United States should not be pursued with urgency.
However, there is a meaningful difference between working quietly and effectively through diplomatic and legislative channels to advance such an agreement — which Ambassador Theriot indicates her office is doing — and making the broader grievances of American corporations a subject of public commentary. The former is good diplomacy. The latter risks reducing a complex bilateral relationship to something that resembles corporate lobbying conducted from an embassy.
It is also worth noting that other international companies — British, Canadian, Caribbean — operate within the same regulatory framework without their respective ambassadors taking to media platforms to demand policy changes. If the framework is truly as burdensome as suggested, one might reasonably ask why this particular chorus has only one prominent voice.
Ambassador Theriot’s remarks do not exist in a vacuum. They come at a moment when Guyana finds itself at the center of enormous geopolitical and commercial interest, driven by one of the most significant oil discoveries in recent history. Major powers are competing for influence, access, and partnership in this small South American nation, and that competition inevitably shapes the tone and content of diplomatic engagement.
In that context, it is important for Guyanese policymakers, civil society, and the public to develop a discerning eye for the difference between genuine partnership and advocacy dressed in the language of partnership. When a foreign ambassador uses a public platform to call for changes to a host nation’s procurement laws, tax architecture, and regulatory environment — however diplomatically framed — that is a moment that deserves careful scrutiny rather than quiet acceptance.
Guyana is a sovereign nation. It is not an economic frontier awaiting instruction from more powerful interests on how to organize its affairs. It has a functioning government, capable technocrats, and an electorate with legitimate expectations about how the country’s resources and institutions are managed. Reforms to procurement, taxation, and regulatory frameworks will come — and should come — but they will be most durable and most legitimate when they emerge from Guyana’s own democratic processes, informed by the needs of its own people.
None of this is to suggest that the United States is not a valued partner for Guyana, or that Ambassador Theriot’s underlying intentions are anything other than constructive. The bilateral relationship between the two countries holds genuine promise, and there is meaningful common ground on trade, energy, security, and development cooperation.
But strong partnerships are built on mutual respect — and mutual respect requires that even the most powerful partners recognize and honor the boundaries of appropriate engagement. The right venue for raising concerns about procurement transparency is a bilateral business forum or a private meeting with the relevant ministry — not a podcast.
The right approach to tax treaty advocacy is sustained, respectful engagement with both governments’ finance officials — not public statements that place Guyana’s regulatory environment in an unflattering light before an international audience.
Ambassador Theriot has an opportunity to reset the tone of this conversation and to demonstrate that American diplomatic engagement with Guyana is rooted in genuine partnership rather than the expectation of preferential treatment. Guyana, for its part, has every right to expect nothing less.
The strength of any alliance is measured not only by what each party gains from it, but by the degree of dignity and respect with which they treat one another. On that measure, there is room for improvement — and the first step begins with recognizing where the line is.