More information about Guatemala is available on the Guatemala Page and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet.
U.S.-Guatemala Relations
The United States established diplomatic relations with Guatemala in 1849 following Guatemala’s independence from Spain on September 15, 1821, and the later dissolution of a federation of Central American states. The United States and Guatemala maintain close diplomatic relations and are aligned on many international policy priorities, including support for Ukraine, Taiwan, and free elections in Venezuela.
U.S. policy objectives in Guatemala include:
Protecting U.S. citizens and the homeland, including through efforts to dismantle local and regional transnational criminal organizations and gangs, combat the flow of illicit drugs to the United States, and strengthen border and citizen security in Guatemala and the region.
Engaging Guatemalan government institutions and civil society to fight corruption and build democratic institutions; increase openness and transparency; support the rule of law, human rights, and civil society; and strengthen the effectiveness of government agencies to improve Guatemalan confidence in institutions.
Addressing root causes of irregular migration, creating ties for Guatemalans to home by boosting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, increasing access to basic services, reducing violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, and engaging the government and the private sector to facilitate trade and investment that benefit communities and reduce poverty.
Improving bilateral economic security by boosting export and investment opportunities for U.S. firms in Guatemala.
Social and Political Context
Guatemala is home to more than 18 million people and 25 languages, including 22 Mayan and two other Indigenous languages as of the 2018 census. Approximately 43 percent of the population consider themselves Indigenous. Despite this rich social tapestry, historic inequalities across social groups and poor infrastructure made accessibility to services and resources, including information on migration alternatives, education, and health, a challenge.
Corruption, inequality, weak rule of law, and insecurity in Guatemala contribute to high levels of poverty and elevated crime rates, resulting in some of the lowest social development indicators in Latin America. In addition, Guatemala has the youngest population in Latin America (median age of 23). A majority of youth struggle to obtain sufficient education, training, and job opportunities.
This context drives irregular migration to the United States. Most migrants are young and/or Indigenous people seeking a steady income. Guatemalans report lack of economic opportunity as their main driver of migration, with insecurity and family separation as secondary reasons.
Guatemala faces formidable challenges: a history of weak governance and adherence to the rule of law, endemic corruption, pervasive poverty, food insecurity, violence and citizen insecurity, shrinking space for civil society, lack of respect for human rights, and inequitable access to economic opportunities and social services. These enduring challenges drive irregular migration or forced displacement and exacerbate the expansion of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).
U.S. Migration Policy Towards Guatemala and the Region
The U.S. Strategy to Address the Root Causes of Migration in Central America (RCS) and the U.S. Collaborative Migration Management Strategy are the principal frameworks guiding U.S. diplomatic efforts and foreign assistance in Guatemala and across Central America. These strategies support Guatemala in addressing the challenges it faces as a source of northward migration and as a transit country for migrants from the region and the world.
The Root Causes Strategy takes a coordinated approach to address the underlying causes that push Central Americans, including many Guatemalans, to migrate. This strategy lays out a framework to use the policy, resources, and diplomacy of the United States, and to leverage the expertise and resources of a broad group of public and private stakeholders, to build hope for citizens in Guatemala that the life they desire can be found at home. The Root Causes Strategy includes the Central America Forward initiative, which has mobilized over $5.2 billion in private sector commitments to the region – more than $482 million of which has already been deployed in Guatemala. The strategy is organized under five pillars:
Pillar I: Addressing economic insecurity and inequality;
Pillar II: Combating corruption, strengthening democratic governance, and advancing the rule of law;
Pillar III: Promoting respect for human rights, labor rights, and a free press;
Pillar IV: Countering and preventing violence, extortion, and other crimes perpetrated by criminal gangs, trafficking networks, and other organized criminal organizations; and
Pillar V: Combating sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence.
The Collaborative Migration Management Strategy (CMMS) complements the Root Causes Strategy and is the first U.S. whole-of-government effort focused on reducing irregular migration to the U.S. border by promoting safe, orderly, and humane migration; improving access to protection for those fleeing persecution and torture; and strengthening migration cooperation and responsibility sharing throughout North and Central America. The CMMS aims to enhance international and national protection of migrants, including within Guatemala; promote temporary labor programs; strengthen lawful pathways for those who choose to or are forced to migrate, including in North and Central America; foster humane border management practices; and reduce irregular migration.
The CMMS includes eight lines of action to strengthen collaborative migration management across North and Central America, including, within Guatemala:
Stabilize populations with acute needs;
Expand access to international protection;
Expand access to protection in countries of origin;
Expand third-country labor migration programs with worker protections;
Assist and reintegrate returned persons;
Foster secure and humane management of borders;
Strengthen regional public messaging on migration; and
Expand access to lawful pathways for protection and opportunity in the United States.
Guatemala is one of 22 endorsing countries of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a regional framework that recognizes the need to jointly address migratory flows on a regional level and support origin, transit, and destination communities. Guatemala leads the Action Package Committee (APC) under the Declaration for Migrant Integration and hosted the May 2024 ministerial meeting for the Declaration in Guatemala City.
Since June 2023, Guatemala has participated in the Safe Mobility Initiative, which is part of the U.S. government’s holistic approach to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration management. The Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs) help individuals access a wide range of services in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala.
U.S. Assistance to Guatemala
The U.S. Government works in partnership with the Government of Guatemala, the private sector, civil society, international partners, and communities to create and connect Guatemalans to opportunities that enable them to achieve prosperous, secure, and dignified lives at home. This work spans multiple U.S. agencies and promotes citizen security and justice, anti-corruption and governance, human rights and labor rights, economic growth, health and nutrition, education, food security and humanitarian assistance, agriculture, and the environment. In March 2024, new initiatives were announced to strengthen the U.S.-Guatemala relationship and efforts to address the Root Cause of Migration from Guatemala.
From FYs 2020-2023, the Department of State and USAID provided $570.6 million in bilateral, regional, centrally managed, and humanitarian assistance. This includes more than $60 million in humanitarian assistance provided in FY 2023 to improve livelihoods, improve food security, and support urgent humanitarian and protection needs of refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations.
The Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) provides assistance to the Government of Guatemala on joint efforts that seek to demonstrate democratic governments can deliver security, economic prosperity, and official institutions that respond to citizens’ needs in Guatemala. Through the “Guatemala Se Transforma” initiative, INL is partnering with Guatemala on creating transformational change across Guatemala’s security and justice institutions. Since 1997, the United States and Guatemala cooperate in the framework of an MOU to prevent trafficking of cultural property, including through law enforcement training and cooperation that combats transnational crime.
The Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) provided over $30 million in humanitarian assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable migrants in Guatemala in FY 2023. PRM also works closely with the Government of Guatemala to continue strengthening Guatemala’s asylum system as part of Guatemala’s commitment to the Los Angeles Declaration framework to jointly address regional migration challenges.
Guatemala City is one of just 12 Latin American and Caribbean cities selected to participate in the State Department’s flagship Cities Forward initiative and has been paired with Dallas, Texas, for peer-learning and diplomatic engagement. Through Cities Forward, the United States is supporting Guatemala City’s efforts to expand economic opportunity, sustainability, and environmental protection programs in underserved and underrepresented communities.
USAID has had a presence in Guatemala since 1961. USAID’s portfolio seeks to create inclusive social and economic development for all Guatemalans, promoting a more equitable society, with a particular focus on opportunities for youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples. Additional details on USAID programming in Guatemala can be found here.
Bilateral Economic Relations
The United States is Guatemala’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly 32 percent of Guatemala’s trade in 2023. Both nations enjoy a growing trade relationship, which became even stronger after the entry into force of the U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) in 2009. As of January 1, 2015, most U.S. consumer and industrial goods enter Guatemala duty free (for goods that meet the country-of-origin requirements). The U.S. and Guatemalan governments met in March 2024 for the inaugural bilateral High Level Economic Dialogue to address cooperation in five key areas: investment promotion, good governance, energy security, food and agriculture, and remittances.
In general, CAFTA-DR has benefitted all parties. Intra-regional trade among Central American countries and the Dominican Republic increased from $10 billion in 2020 to $16 billion in 2022. U.S. goods exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic reached $45.2 billion in 2023, up significantly from $16.89 billion in 2005.
U.S. merchandise exports to Guatemala were $9.7 billion in 2023. Leading U.S. exports to Guatemala include fuel, machinery, plastics, and cereals (corn, wheat, and rice). Fuel exports accounted for over $4.2 billion in 2023.
U.S. imports from Guatemala totaled $4.8 billion in 2023. U.S. imports include apparel; edible fruits, melons, and nuts; coffee; edible vegetables, roots, and tubers; sugars, and confectioneries of sugar.
Guatemala’s economy is the largest in Central America, with a GDP in 2023 of $102 billion. The country’s macroeconomic situation remains solid with a stable exchange rate and a low public debt. Guatemala’s economic growth was 3.5 percent in 2023 and is forecast to grow by 3.5 percent in 2024.
U.S. products and services enjoy strong brand recognition in Guatemala, and U.S. companies have a good reputation in the Guatemalan marketplace. An estimated 200 U.S. firms are present in the market.
A key component of Guatemala’s economy is remittances from over two million migrants, most of whom have settled in the United States. In 2023, Guatemala set a record with remittances totaling $19.8 billion – up $1.76 billion since 2022. Remittances are equivalent to 19.4 percent of the country’s GDP.
To make economic progress and advance the Root Causes Strategy, U.S. Embassy Guatemala City promotes entrepreneurship and economic growth through public diplomacy initiatives in Guatemala, including the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), groundbreaking English Language Programs, and Young Leaders in the Americas Initiative (YLAI).
Guatemala’s Membership in International Organizations
Guatemala and the United States belong to many of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, Organization of American States, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. Guatemala generally aligns with U.S. positions in multilateral fora.
Bilateral Representation
Principal U.S. embassy officials are listed in the Department’s Key Officers List.
Guatemala maintains an embassy in the United States at 2220 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-745-4953) and 23 consulates in cities throughout the United States.
More information about Guatemala is available from the Department of State and other sources, some of which are listed here:
CIA World Factbook Guatemala Page
U.S. Embassy
USAID Guatemala Page
History of U.S. Relations With Guatemala
Human Rights Reports
International Religious Freedom Reports
Trafficking in Persons Reports
Narcotics Control Reports
Investment Climate Statements
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Countries Page
U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics
Millennium Challenge Corporation: Guatemala
Travel Information
