The Caribbean is a friend, not an enemy, leaders in the region have told Donald Trump after the US president’s imposition of worldwide import tariffs.
The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, invited Trump to talk with leaders in the region and “work together to keep prices down for all of our people”, adding: “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.”
Mottley warned Caribbean citizens that the tariffs would mean “higher prices for all of us”.
The finance minister for St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), Camillo Gonsalves, who is visiting the UK to promote foreign investment, particularly from the Caribbean diaspora, said the US tariffs – which range from 10% to 38% on Caribbean countries – could have a detrimental impact on his country’s agricultural and fisheries sectors, and drive up the prices of imports, leading to unsustainable inflation and rises in the cost of living.
“We import many, many products, fruits, vegetables, manufactured goods, meats … cement, steel, through Miami and other US ports,” Gonsalves told the Guardian. “And not all of those products are of American origin … but it’s a convenient point of transit for the Caribbean.”
Going through these US ports, he added, meant they would be subject to the increased US tariffs. “Those tariffs will become a cost; they will become a tax, essentially to Caribbean consumers,” he said.
The minister said SVG was working closely with other countries in the region who are part of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to engage with the US on the matter, and that it was also looking at solutions such as developing partnerships with other countries in the Commonwealth.
He said: “I think that if the United States has made a policy decision to withdraw from global trade, it does not mean that global trade is dead. It simply means that one major player has withdrawn from the game … I believe that other countries that continue to see the advantages of global trade and globalisation will adapt … and I think that the Commonwealth connection is advantageous.”
Investment from SVG nationals living abroad could drive rapid growth, he said, estimating that their “economic strength” was about five times that of their fellow citizens at home.
On Friday, Mottley, who is also the chair of Caricom, issued a statement stressing that the Caribbean was already reaping the benefits of work to diversify economies and shake off the “legacy of our colonial dependence”, but admitting that the region was still “largely reliant on imports”, as she expressed concern about the impact of the tariffs.
“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. This trade war and the possibility of a $1m to $1.5m levy on all Chinese-made ships entering US harbours will mean higher prices for all of us at the corner shop, higher prices at the supermarket, higher prices at the electronic store, higher prices for us at the shop, higher prices for us at the restaurant, higher prices for us at the car dealership and beyond,” she said.
In her statement, the Caricom chair proposed a set of actions to respond to the crisis. First, she said, the Caribbean community should “re-engage urgently, directly, and at the highest possible level with our friends in the United States of America”. She also urged countries to unite and avoid fighting “among each other for political gain”.
She said it was important to “redouble efforts to invest in Caribbean agricultural production and light manufacturing” and “build our ties with Africa, Central and Latin America, and renew those ties with some of our older partners around the world, in the United Kingdom and Europe, and in Canada”.
“We must not rely solely on one or two markets. We need to be able to sell our Caribbean goods to a wider, more stable global market,” she said.
