The plethora of requests for a senior U.S. official to meet with Caribbean Community leaders to discuss radical policy changes from Washington have been rewarded with a swing through the region by Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week.
Rubio will meet with several regional leaders in Jamaica on Wednesday before heading southeast to Caricom bloc headquarters in Guyana and neighboring Surinam as the two are now being regarded as key geopolitical partners given the fact that humongous quantities of oil and gas have been discovered there in the past decade.
His expected arrival and mini-summit with presidents and prime ministers come amid rising concerns in the region, which could severely impact a geographic sub-grouping that is usually friendly to the U.S. and with which it has strong historical, cultural, and other links.
For example, Rubio and the Trump administration recently threatened to revoke the visas of Caribbean officials linked to the Cuban medical brigade program through which doctors, nurses, and other professionals are hired to work in regional hospitals and health institutions.
In most jurisdictions, a portion of the earnings of these very professionals goes back to the Cuban government, triggering accusations in Washington that this is a form of forced labor and human trafficking. Most importantly, American officials think that Cuban authorities have used this system over the decades to knowingly circumvent the sanctions and economic embargo system to earn millions in foreign exchange annually.
Anxious to avoid a showdown with the U.S., several nations have either rushed to amend the payment system or to review it altogether, with the aim of both continuing the medical assistance program while complying with American dictates. A recent government statement from Antigua noted that the federation with Barbuda “will nonetheless modify how these professionals are compensated. The threat by the Trump administration to declare the Cuban medical brigade as equivalent to ‘human trafficking’ is not supported by the payment method and the contractual arrangement into which the governments of Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda have entered.” The Bahamas has hinted that it will do likewise while St. Vincent and Dominica say they are also reviewing their compensation packages.
Meanwhile, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua have both expressed concerns about plans by Washington to impose punitive tariffs on ships or vessels that are made in China doing business with the region.
The plan is to slap a $1.5 million surcharge on Chinese-built or flagged vessels docking at U.S. ports. The region fears this could affect them indirectly and drive up inflation if these very vessels transit the U.S. and call on Caribbean ports.
“That, of course, can have effects on the cost of goods coming into the region, the cost of transport coming into the region,” Ali told reporters. “This is a policy that was alluded to so there are some discussions that will have to occur, so all of these things are key regional issues that we are discussing together. We have to have early conversations to mitigate or minimize the impact. The U.S. is our partner, the region recognizes that the U.S. is an important partner. The regional private sector will be having some conversations with the US. We will also be having conversations with various actors in the U.S. secretary of state for example and also the chair of Caricom will be seeking to have a meeting with the White House to go through some of these challenges that we may face, and to have a better understanding of each other’s positions,” he said. PM Brown also shared regional concern, noting that “if that happens, you are talking about an increase in prices of between eight and 10 percent easily, which would be extremely inflationary at this time considering that there is already an elevated rate of inflation of about 4.5 percent at the moment. This means that inflation could trend to up to 12 or 14 percent,” he added. “The United States, obviously, should be concerned about its southern ‘third border’ and to lessen any unintended consequences of any policies that it would implement,” Browne said.