As the current chair of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley thought it was wise to address the bloc at the weekend about the perils of across-the-board tariffs announced recently by the Trump administration, arguing that these latest measures might well be one too many burdens for the region to bear.
Describing the tariff imposition as “among the most challenging of times for our region since the majority of our members gained their independence,” Mottley suggested an urgent high-level meeting with officials in Washington and urged the region to genuflect to old trading partners like the European Union, while developing strong trade ties with Africa and nearby Latin America.
From the recent announcement by Trump himself, the average Caricom member state was slapped with a 10% tax increase, except bloc headquarters Guyana, which exports hundreds of millions of dollars in crude oil to the U.S. in addition to rice, rum, fish, and shrimp, among other products. The region’s largest and most resource-rich member state ended up with a 38% calculation rate that left authorities astonished.
Related: Caribbean governments push back against Trump’s travel restrictions
“My brothers and sisters, there’s trouble in our Caribbean waters,” said Mottley in a televised address. “I say simply to President Trump, our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They are too small to have any negative or distorted impact on your country, so I ask you to consider your decades-long friendship between your country and ours, and look to the Caribbean, recognizing that the family ties, yes, are strong. Let us talk, I hope, and let us work together to keep prices down for all of our people.”
Making the case for the region, she pointed to a string of trade assistance programs implemented by successive American administrations for the Caribbean as far back as the 1980s, including the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) that has provided protective cover and some level of preferential treatment for regional exports. “We will see how these tariffs will impact that,” said Mottley. “That spirit of cooperation largely enabled security, social stability, and economic growth on America’s third border in the Caribbean, or as we have agreed as recently in our meeting with Secretary of State Rubio, what is now our collective neighborhood.”
Citing an example of possible economic peril from the slew of controversial policies being enacted in Washington, Mottley singled out threats to impose at least a $1 million levy on any ships built in China that makes port calls in the Caribbean, bringing normal merchandize to the region, as one that will present major financial burdens if implemented in the coming months.
“We are working and will continue to work to become more self-sufficient, but I want every Caribbean man and every Caribbean woman to hear me,” Mottley said. “This trade war and the possibility of a $1 million to $1.5 million levy on all Chinese made ships entering U.S. harbors will mean higher prices for all of us at the corner shop, higher prices at the supermarket, higher prices at the electronics store, higher prices for us at the shop, higher prices for us at the restaurant, higher prices for us at the current dealership and beyond.”
One way to make it easier for Caribbean citizens, she said, would be to “buy local and buy regional. The products are better, fresher, and more competitive in many instances. If we work together and strengthen our own, we can ride through this crisis. We may have to confront issues of logistics and movement of goods, but we can do that, too,” Mottley said.
Attempting to put the regional economic and trade dilemma in perspective, she said that it matters if governments zero-rate import taxes. “It will not make a lick of difference, because our economies are small and vulnerable. This crisis, my friends, will impact not only goods, but it may also have a large spillover effect on tourism. We suggest that the region takes steps to sustain the tourism industry, as it is likely to worsen and many of our source markets will have negative impacts on people’s ability to travel. We call on our regional private sector and the tourism sector to come together and to work with governments to collaborate for an immediate tourism strategy to ensure that we maintain market share numbers as a region.”