Peru and the United States, Relations Explained

PERU · UNITED STATES

Peru and the United States are working more closely on security and trade. A new 12.5% US tariff and China’s weight in Peruvian trade complicate the picture.

Peru US relations in October 2026 combine a deepening security partnership with a new US tariff of 12.5% on Peruvian goods. President Keiko Fujimori took office on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Lima six weeks later.

This guide covers trade and tariffs, security, visas and deportations, US companies, aid, the diaspora and what it all means for Americans. More background sits on the Rio Times Peru page and in Peru Geopolitics Explained 2026.

Peru US Relations at a Glance

Both governments stressed more than 200 years of relations at their meeting on Thursday, 10 September 2026, the Peruvian presidency says. The list below sums up each area, and the sections after it give the dates and numbers.

• Trade and tariffs: a free trade deal since 2009, US$22.8 billion of two-way goods trade in 2025, and a 12.5% US tariff since 24 July 2026.
• Security: major non-NATO ally status since January 2026, entry into the Shield of the Americas, counter-drug cooperation and a US hospital ship due in February 2027.
• Visas and travel: Peru is on neither entry-restriction list, Americans enter without a visa for stays of up to 90 days, and the advisory is Level 2.
• US investment: Freeport-McMoRan’s Cerro Verde copper mine, Southern Copper and Buenaventura on the New York Stock Exchange, and Hunt Oil in gas.
• Aid: joint planning for El Niño relief; the latest annual aid total was not confirmed.
• Diaspora: about 30% of Peruvians who left and did not return lived in the United States in 2021, and remittances reached US$5.30 billion in 2025.
• Sanctions and deals: no US sanctions programme on Peru appeared in the notices checked; a cultural property agreement is up for extension.

Who Is Who in Lima and Washington

Keiko Fujimori leads the conservative Fuerza Popular party and became president on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, for a term to 2031. She swore in prime minister Luis Galarreta and Foreign Minister Carlos Espá the same day.

Bernie Navarro has led the US Embassy in Lima as ambassador since 3 February 2026, the embassy says. Rubio, the US Secretary of State, met Fujimori at the Government Palace on Thursday, 10 September 2026.

The Peruvian presidency’s note quotes Rubio saying both governments worked hard in her first 40 days and a golden era was starting. Fujimori called the visit a new stage.

The Rio Times Latin America Power Index tracks Peru among 14 countries, with its live score in the Key Facts box. The full ranking is on the Latin America Power Map.

Trade and Tariffs in 2026

The US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, a free trade deal, took effect on 1 February 2009. The US Trade Representative, Washington’s trade office, says more than two-thirds of US farm exports became duty-free at once.

US Census Bureau data show US goods exports to Peru of US$12.1 billion and imports of US$10.7 billion in 2025. That left the United States with a goods surplus of US$1.4 billion.

From January to August 2026, US exports rose 18.8% to US$9.5 billion against the same months of 2025. Imports rose 11.9% to US$7.3 billion, and the surplus widened to US$2.3 billion.

UN Comtrade, the UN trade database, shows fruit and nuts as the top 2025 US import from Peru, at about US$3.5 billion. Copper followed at US$1.3 billion, with knitted apparel and coffee, tea and spices at about US$0.8 billion each.

The largest US exports to Peru were mineral fuels at about US$5.2 billion and machinery at US$1.6 billion. Comtrade totals differ from Census totals, so the two sets are quoted separately.

China matters more to Peru’s export bill than the United States does. In 2024, Peru’s reports to UN Comtrade show China took US$24.8 billion (33.5%) of exports, the United States US$9.6 billion (12.9%).

The 12.5% Section 301 Tariff

On 28 July 2026 the US Trade Representative published Section 301 tariffs on 60 economies it investigated over forced-labour import bans. Section 301 is a US trade law that lets Washington tariff countries over practices it judges unfair.

Peru faces 12.5% on its goods, except those in Annexes I and II, from 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday, 24 July 2026. Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico pay 10%, while Brazil, Chile and Colombia pay 12.5% like Peru.

The trade office found that Peru failed to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports made with forced labour. It said merely proposing a ban is not enough to earn the lower 10% rate.

The Annex I and II lists were not in the text read, so the effect on copper, gold and fruit is unconfirmed. Exporters can check the annexes in Federal Register notice 2026-15181.

Security, the Military and the Shield of the Americas

On Thursday, 10 September 2026, Fujimori announced Peru would join the Shield of the Americas anti-crime group after meeting Rubio in Lima. Foreign Minister Espá told the Senate on Wednesday, 16 September that the group has fifteen countries.

Espá said Peru joined without a treaty and keeps the power to decide when, how and with whom it cooperates. Fujimori said foreign troops still need special permission from Congress each time they enter.

Rubio described the Shield as a way to act together, not unilaterally, against what he called terrorist groups that extort people. He said US help would respect Peru’s laws and sovereignty.

Peru became a major non-NATO ally through a US presidential determination signed on Wednesday, 14 January 2026 and published on 23 January. The status is a US designation that eases some arms sales and defence cooperation.

The State Department then wrote Peru into its arms export rules in a rule published on Friday, 18 September 2026. The same rule added Saudi Arabia and took effect on the day it was published.

Drugs, Terrorism and Crime Cooperation

In Presidential Determination 2026-23, signed on Friday, 11 September 2026, President Donald Trump listed Peru among major drug transit or producing countries. Peru was not among Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma and Colombia, the countries designated as having failed demonstrably.

The determination welcomes the commitment of Fujimori to work with the United States and other allies against criminal groups and cocaine shipments. The text names no waiver or penalty for Peru.

On 5 October 2026 Peru joined the United States and eight other countries in condemning Iranian terrorist activity in the Americas. The joint statement describes no specific Peruvian measures.

Fujimori also thanked the FBI, the US federal investigation agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration and US Southern Command, the Pentagon’s regional command. She said Peru already receives support from the FBI, the DEA and other US federal agencies.

Visas, Deportations and Travel

Peru is on neither the full nor the partial list in the US entry-restriction proclamation published on 19 December 2025. It took effect on 1 January 2026, and later changes were not checked.

Peruvians apply for US visitor visas at the Lima embassy, whose page lists a US$185 fee since June 2023, up from US$160. The page carries no 2026 date, so readers should check current fees.

No official count of Peruvians removed from the United States in 2026 was found in the sources checked. ICE, the US immigration enforcement agency, publishes removal data, but its statistics page could not be opened.

For Americans, the State Department says tourist stays of up to 90 days need no visa. A passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the date of entry.

Peru carries a Level 2 advisory, exercise increased caution, for crime, unrest, kidnapping and terrorism. It advises against travel to the Colombia border area of Loreto and to the VRAEM, the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys.

Cusco, the Sacred Valley, the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu lie outside those do-not-travel zones, the advisory says. The embassy can be reached at +51 (1) 618-2000 in an emergency.

US Investment and Companies

Freeport-McMoRan, a US copper miner listed on the New York Stock Exchange, owns 55.66% of the Cerro Verde mine. Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining holds 21% and Peru’s Buenaventura 19.58%, and the mine lies about 20 miles southwest of Arequipa.

Southern Copper, with its business address in Phoenix, Arizona, trades on the exchange as SCCO and mines copper in Peru. Buenaventura, a Lima-based miner, trades there as BVN.

Hunt Oil, a US energy company, says it holds 25.2% of Camisea, Peru’s largest gas fields, and 50% of Peru LNG. Peru LNG runs what the company calls the only liquefied natural gas plant in South America.

World Bank data show foreign direct investment into Peru, from all countries, was US$10.35 billion in 2025 and US$6.70 billion in 2024. The US share was not found in the sources checked.

Fujimori said on 10 September that Peru will keep and widen trade with other markets. She noted that Peru and the United States both belong to APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

For other foreign owners, read Foreign Powers and Investors in Peru 2026 and the Peru copper mining guide. Investors can also start with the guide to investing in Peru for foreigners.

Aid, Health and Disaster Help

Fujimori said the US hospital ship USNS Comfort will reach Peru’s north coast in February 2027 to ease El Niño’s impact. She described it as one of the world’s largest hospital ships, with more than 1,000 beds.

On Monday, 26 October 2026, Espá met Ambassador Navarro and the United Nations resident coordinator, Rossana Dudziak, about El Niño 2026-2027. The foreign ministry said they reviewed pre-positioning and humanitarian aid to complement Peru’s own actions.

A 2023 State Department fact sheet says US aid to Peru was US$240 million in fiscal year 2022. That figure is old, and no current annual aid total was confirmed.

The Peruvian Diaspora and Remittances

Peru’s statistics institute, INEI, counted 3,309,635 Peruvians who left between 1990 and 2020 and had not returned. In 2021, about 30.2% of them, roughly one million people, lived in the United States.

Spain, Argentina, Chile and Italy follow, with shares of 15.4%, 13.6%, 11.8% and 10.2%. INEI also says the United States supplied 42.6% of Peru’s remittances in 2021, ahead of Chile at 15.3%.

Remittances, money that migrants send home, reached US$5.30 billion in Peru in 2025, World Bank data show. That was 7.4% above the US$4.93 billion of 2024, and the US share for 2025 was not confirmed.

Sanctions, Deals and Pending Decisions

No US sanctions programme aimed at Peru appeared in the Federal Register notices checked for this guide. The main trade measure is the Section 301 tariff, which also covers 59 other economies.

A State Department committee meets online from 27 to 29 October 2026 on extending cultural property deals with Cyprus, Guatemala and Peru. The Peru agreement, first signed in 1997 and extended every five years, restricts US imports of Peruvian archaeological and colonial-period items.

What It Means for US Readers

Investors in Freeport-McMoRan, Southern Copper and Buenaventura can follow the tariff annexes and Peruvian security policy, since all three mine in Peru. The 12.5% tariff applies to Peruvian goods entering the United States, not to US company profits earned in Peru.

Importers of Peruvian fruit, copper, apparel and coffee face the new duty unless an annex exempts their product. US exporters of fuels and machinery sell into a market covered by the 2009 free trade deal.

American travellers need no visa for tourist stays under 90 days and should read the Level 2 advisory before going. Peruvian-Americans and families with relatives facing removal should look for official data, as no current count is public in the sources checked.

What Prediction Markets Say

Kalshi, a prediction market regulated by the US futures regulator CFTC, lists a bet on the 2026 Lima mayoral election. On 27 October 2026 at 9:50 a.m. ET it priced Rafael López Aliaga at 89% and Francis Allison at 8%.

About 29,700 contracts, each paying US$1 if the bet wins, have traded on the López Aliaga market, and 66,000 across all candidates. Peruvians voted on 4 October 2026, but on 10 October the electoral office ONPE said 3.3% of records were still under review.

The bet concerns local politics in the capital, not US policy, and it is shown only as a gauge of political momentum. Treat it as a bet, not a poll.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

The contents of Annexes I and II of the 12.5% tariff notice were not read, so exempt Peruvian products are not confirmed. Whether Peru can win the lower 10% rate, and by what steps, is not stated.

No current count of removals, no current annual US aid total and no current US share of remittances were found. The US Census Bureau count of people of Peruvian origin could not be retrieved.

The Shield of the Americas’ full terms are not set out in the documents checked. Agreements signed around Rubio’s visit, which Fujimori mentioned, could not be confirmed.

Changes to US entry rules or visa fees after the dates given here were not verified. The final result of the Lima mayoral count was not confirmed on 27 October.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the president of Peru in 2026?

Keiko Fujimori of the conservative Fuerza Popular party took office on Tuesday, 28 July 2026. Her term runs to 2031.

Is Peru a major non-NATO ally of the United States?

Yes. A US presidential determination signed on Wednesday, 14 January 2026 made Peru a major non-NATO ally.

What US tariff do Peruvian goods face?

The United States has charged 12.5% on products of Peru since Friday, 24 July 2026, except goods in the notice’s annexes. The rate comes from a Section 301 trade action.

Do Americans need a visa to visit Peru?

No visa is needed for tourist stays of up to 90 days, the State Department says. Passports must be valid for at least six months beyond the date of entry.

Is Peru safe for American travellers?

The State Department rates Peru Level 2, exercise increased caution, and advises against travel to the Loreto border area and the VRAEM. Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu are outside those zones.

How many Peruvians live in the United States?

INEI counted 3,309,635 Peruvians who left from 1990 to 2020 and did not return. In 2021, about 30.2% of them, roughly one million, lived in the United States.

Which US companies operate in Peru?

Freeport-McMoRan owns 55.66% of the Cerro Verde copper mine, and Hunt Oil holds 25.2% of the Camisea gas consortium. Southern Copper also mines copper in Peru.

Sources: US Federal Register, USTR Section 301 notice 2026-15181 (28 July 2026); US Federal Register, Section 301 initiation notice 2026-05151 (17 March 2026); US Federal Register, Presidential Determination 2026-04, Peru as major non-NATO ally (14 January 2026); US Federal Register, State Department ITAR rule 2026-19161 (18 September 2026); US Federal Register, Presidential Determination 2026-23 (11 September 2026); US Federal Register, entry-restriction proclamation (19 December 2025); US Federal Register, Cultural Property Advisory Committee notice (24 September 2026); US Census Bureau, trade with Peru (data to August 2026); UN Comtrade (US-reported 2025 and Peru-reported 2024 trade); US Trade Representative, Peru Trade Promotion Agreement; US State Department, U.S. Relations With Peru (fact sheet of 8 August 2023); State Department, Peru travel advisory; State Department, Peru entry requirements; US Embassy Lima; US Embassy Lima, joint statement on Iranian terrorist activity (5 October 2026); US Embassy Lima, visa fees; Presidency of Peru, Fujimori and Rubio (10 September 2026); Presidency of Peru, first cabinet sworn in (28 July 2026); Peru Foreign Ministry, Shield of the Americas (16 September 2026); Peru Foreign Ministry, El Niño meeting (26 October 2026); Peru Presidency of the Council of Ministers, directory; ONPE, Peru’s electoral office (10 October 2026); INEI, Peruvian emigration; World Bank, remittances to Peru; World Bank, foreign direct investment in Peru; Freeport-McMoRan, South America operations; Hunt Oil, Peru; US SEC filer record, Southern Copper; US SEC filer record, Buenaventura; US SEC filer record, Freeport-McMoRan; Kalshi, Lima mayor market data (27 October 2026, 9:50 a.m. ET) (all accessed 27 October 2026).