PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The CARICOM Non-public Sector Group (CPSO) is warning that the choice by america to extend Trinidad and Tobago’s reciprocal tariff charge from 10 to fifteen % might lead to probably the most extreme, absolute affect upon any of the 15 member states of the Caribbean Neighborhood (CARICOM).
“Trinidad and Tobago was already probably the most uncovered CARICOM economic system underneath the reciprocal tariff regime,” mentioned CPSO chief govt officer and technical director, Dr. Patrick Antoine.
“This adjustment not solely will increase the size of potential losses, but it surely does so in sectors which can be very important to our industrial capability and to US producers who depend on our exports for enter,” Antoine mentioned, linking additionally the event to a broader erosion of CARICOM’s historic commerce place with the US.
“In our current submission to the US overview of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), we highlighted that these new tariffs erode the preferential entry that has underpinned our financial partnership with the US for many years. That erosion is now accelerating,” he mentioned.
Antoine mentioned that the America First coverage and the April imposition of reciprocal tariffs have been the wake-up name for the area and that this newest adjustment to fifteen per cent is the sign of the necessity for fast, coordinated motion to safeguard competitiveness. He mentioned such motion should be constructed on confirmed fashions of collaboration:
“The joint regional and personal sector place that secured exemptions for China-built ships and short-sea delivery for the
“Now’s the time to use that very same resolve, to guard present commerce flows, have interaction the US on tariff differentials, and place Trinidad and Tobago and CARICOM for long-term power in a extra contested world market.”
The CPSO famous that it’s noteworthy that earlier than the imposition of the April 9 tariff of 10 per cent, CARICOM member states benefited from duty-free entry to the US market underneath the CBI.
It mentioned the elevated tariff charge of 15 per cent, which took impact from August 7, comes simply months after Trinidad and Tobago had been assigned the ten per cent baseline charge, which was launched in April 2025 as a part of the America First commerce coverage.
“CPSO modelling now tasks US$291.9 million in potential annual export income losses for Trinidad and Tobago, up from US$194.6 million underneath the ten per cent baseline charge. This determine widens the hole between Trinidad and Tobago and different CARICOM member states when it comes to the potential export losses to be incurred because of the US measure.”
CPSO mentioned that over two-thirds of the estimated losses anticipated to be suffered by Trinidad and Tobago are concentrated in two sectors, particularly base metals and articles (US$199.3 million) and chemical compounds (US$74.8 million).
The bottom metals class is primarily comprised of varied types of iron and metal merchandise, that are broadly utilized in america throughout building, automotive, and manufacturing industries.
The chemical compounds class contains merchandise comparable to anhydrous ammonia, methanol, and urea, that are crucial inputs for fertilizer manufacturing, plastics, and different industrial processes. The CPSO mentioned that collectively, these exports from Trinidad and Tobago anchor the nation’s industrial capability and likewise feed into US provide chains that depend on competitively priced uncooked supplies.
“Whereas the magnitude of the potential income loss for the agriculture and meals merchandise sector (estimated at simply over 9 million US {dollars}) just isn’t as massive as the 2 sectors named above, the implications for agriculture and meals merchandise are removed from benign.
“This sector sustains small producers and rural livelihoods, starting from fish merchandise, that are an essential export to US meals markets, to ready condiments, sauces, and seasonings, that are provided to each diaspora communities and the rising specialty meals segments of the US market.”
The CPSO mentioned that for a lot of of those micro and small exporters, the extra 5 per cent compounded onto the ten per cent introduced in April, will current an excellent larger problem to their export competitiveness and to the international trade incomes potential of the Trinidad and Tobago economic system.
