TTMA warns Govt Caricom market remains critical

2026-03-27 - 03:03

Senior Reporter dareece.polo@guardian.co.tt The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) is expressing hope that political decisions do not hurt trade relations between local businesses and the Caricom community. TTMA CEO Dr Mahindra Ramdeen made the comment yesterday, following media reports that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar intends to cut funding to Caricom, after she objected to the reappointment of Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett. In a telephone interview, Ramdeen said the TTMA will not engage in political conflict but stressed Caricom’s importance to the local economy, noting the region accounted for an estimated 80 per cent of T&T’s non-energy exports. “The TTMA sees the Caricom market as a very important one, an integral market towards our economic sustainability and growth. It represents between 70 per cent to 80 per cent of all non-energy manufacturing exports. We feel that whatever is being done at any other level, it doesn’t disrupt the economic activity, the trading activities between the Caricom private sector bodies. So, we’re gonna continue to do all that we can, and we hope that the decisions taken at the political level does not negatively impact or curtail any of the existing arrangement (sic),” Ramdeen said, He also called for deeper regional integration. “As a matter of fact, we want to see a widening and a deepening of Caricom as much as possible so Trinidad and Tobago businesses who export into the Caricom region would continue to benefit and those who import from within Caricom can benefit from that process as well.” However, regional political analyst Peter Wickham characterised the Prime Minister’s threats as a dangerous gambit, likening the strategy to US President Donald Trump’s threats against Canada, which he labelled “equally unwise.” He warned that withdrawing from Caricom would be a self-inflicted wound with immediate consequences. “If Trinidad and Tobago decides it wants to withdraw that support, and indeed if Trinidad and Tobago wants to withdraw altogether from Caricom, I think that is something that they will do at their own peril. The access that they enjoy to the economies all across the region that are very easy for them to access, because they’re essentially just a boat ride away or a plane ride away, all of that changes overnight. And then she will find it is going to become an extremely challenging environment in which to operate and that there are going to be a lot of people in Trinidad and Tobago whose livelihood currently depends on trade with the region and that will change.” Wickham also criticised the business community’s lack of public outrage, pointing to the risk of losing “Most Favoured Nation” status under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. Without these protections, T&T goods would lose their competitive edge, potentially facing tariffs and aggressive competition from Latin American producers, he said. “If it is there are local sectors of the society that are not comfortable with this direction and believe that actions such as this will not be to their best interest, then perhaps they’re the people who need to make a fuss and to make it clear to her that this is highly unwise because there’s no adult supervision in the room. I have not heard anyone within her party raise a concern about this direction,” he added. Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles echoed concerns about the fallout, condemning what she described as the Prime Minister’s “reprehensible attack” on Caricom and criticism of Dr Barnett’s reappointment. “I completely condemn Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s most recent reprehensible attack on the Caribbean Community, and her lazy, childish, and irresponsible posturing on the issue of the reappointment of the Secretary General.” She warned that the move risks regional backlash and economic consequences. “Persad-Bissessar must be reminded that Caricom is the second-largest market for our goods and services, and the regional backlash she is inviting will only hurt the ordinary citizens and workers who are already under extreme pressure due to the policies of her UNC government. We have had enough.” But Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development and Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Kennedy Swaratsingh, has signalled a different approach, telling a TTMA conference on Wednesday that T&T should expand beyond traditional markets. “I actually look at the geopolitics as an opportunity for us to begin to explore different arrangements, new arrangements, better arrangements... At the end of the day, I think the reality continues to be that rather than focusing on the things we can’t change, focus on the things we can effect; look for new ways to build up new markets,” Swaratsingh said. He said new markets and engagements will be necessary, while acknowledging that significant work is still required before the country can comfortably expand its reach. Calls and messages yesterday to the Prime Minister, as well as the Ministers of Trade and Foreign Affairs, went unanswered.