WASHINGTON, CMC – On April 9, 2025, US President Donald Trump introduced a 90-day suspension of the upper international tariffs imposed on April 3. This suspension spares solely the baseline 10% tariff on imports—levied with out exception on all nations, together with the 14 unbiased states of the Caribbean Group (CARICOM). For CARICOM, this second isn’t a reprieve however a quick, strategic window—a possibility to press for fairer commerce phrases with america.
The CARICOM Value-Profit Ledger
Take Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, whose exports had been hit with reciprocal tariffs of 38% and 12%, respectively. With this suspension, each now have a vital likelihood to renegotiate. It’s value noting that their key exports – oil and gasoline – stay exempt, shielding these sectors from instant hurt. But past these commodities, the terrain stays unsure.
CARICOM’s commerce relationship with the US has lengthy been asymmetrical. The area imports way over it exports, a sample entrenched regardless of the concessions granted underneath the Caribbean Basin Financial Restoration Act (CBERA) since 1983. The brand new tariffs elevate uncomfortable questions: Have been CBERA preferences even thought-about? To this point, no clear reply has emerged.
Whereas not devastating, the ten% tariff will probably burden the Caribbean diaspora greater than Caribbean exporters. Caribbean communities within the US—the first shoppers of West Indian items—could take up the fee with out shifting their loyalties. Competing imports will face the identical tariff, in any case. Nevertheless, the extra important blow comes on the opposite facet of the ledger: the rising value of imports into CARICOM nations from the US itself.
With a 145% tariff now cemented on Chinese language items, US producers will face skyrocketing enter prices. For CARICOM importers reliant on these completed American items, the ripple impact is already taking form – larger costs, tighter margins, and rising inflation. This spells deeper ache for small Caribbean economies nonetheless shaking off pandemic shocks and international monetary volatility.
A Name for Diversification
It is a second that shouldn’t be wasted. Roughly 60% of CARICOM imports come from america – a dependency that borders on the unsustainable. Diversification is now not elective; it’s crucial. However shifting commerce routes is less complicated mentioned than accomplished.
Caribbean merchants are tethered to US suppliers by geography, historical past, and logistics. The provision chains from South Florida are dependable, swift, and acquainted. In distinction, importing from Asia, Africa, or Latin America presents actual challenges: pricey delivery via oblique routes, inconsistent logistics, unfamiliar companions, and negligible bargaining energy. Infrastructure gaps and fragmented regional transport methods compound the problem.
Nonetheless, hardship breeds innovation. The personal sector should not stay passive. It’s the engine of diversification. Governments could construct the pathways, however personal enterprises should drive the automobiles.
Non-public Sector: Catalyst, Not Bystander
Governments can streamline processes, negotiate new commerce agreements, and improve ports and logistics. However the personal sector should hunt down new companions, forge commerce ties, and spend money on provide chain resilience. This implies attending worldwide commerce expos, embracing digital commerce platforms, and interesting in joint ventures past the standard Atlantic axis.
A pivot to Africa, Asia, and Latin America will demand boldness. It’s going to additionally require a basic shift in mindset – one which sees alternative, not inconvenience, and strategic autonomy moderately than unmanaged reliance.
The USA: An Necessary Companion
None of this implies that the US ought to be forged apart. Its geographic proximity, deep-rooted commerce relationships, and shopper desire within the Caribbean guarantee its continued significance. However a wholesome commerce relationship is certainly one of stability and mutual respect. CARICOM should press for the modernization of CBERA—particularly to incorporate providers, which now dominate the regional financial system. The commerce surplus the US enjoys with the area justifies such reconsideration.
One Market, One Area, One Voice
Lastly, this second should catalyze what has too lengthy remained a slogan: an actual, functioning CARICOM Single Market. A typical market with environment friendly regional transport for items isn’t utopian -it is overdue. Dozens of research have mapped the trail. What’s lacking is the need.
Remoted nationwide efforts aren’t any match for coordinated regional motion. The time for fragmentation is over. On this second of worldwide flux, unity is the Caribbean’s finest insurance coverage coverage.
This chance shouldn’t be one other footnote in regional inaction. It ought to be when the Caribbean discovered its voice, lifted its sails, and charted a broader course.
*(The author is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS. He’s additionally the Dean of the Ambassadors of the Western Hemisphere Group accredited to the US. The views expressed are fully his personal.)
