WASHINGTON, DC – REGIONAL finance ministers met with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address growing concerns over the Caribbean’s dependency on U.S. trade and the potential economic fallout from new American tariffs.
The discussions took place on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, providing an opportunity for Caribbean leaders to explore solutions to the region’s trade vulnerabilities.
The Caribbean currently relies heavily on the United States for food and other essential commodities—imports valued at over $5 billion annually. Much of this trade is funneled through the Port of Miami, a key hub for both imports and exports, including intra-regional trade.
However, recent developments in U.S. trade policy are raising alarms. President Donald Trump's administration has announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese-made and registered vessels entering U.S. ports. This move is expected to drive up prices on a wide range of goods for Caribbean nations, which depend heavily on U.S. logistics.
Timothy Antoine, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), underscored the urgent need for the region to rethink its trade infrastructure.
“...not only are we very dependent on the Port of Miami for many of our goods, but it is true even for exports or trade within the region, intra-Caribbean trade—a lot of our trade is being shipped to Miami,” Antoine told SKNVibes News after the meeting. “...So even within the Caribbean, we are using U.S. ports for trade. We clearly have to fix that to make it cheaper, to make it faster and obviously to make it more reliable.”
The question of leadership on this issue remains unresolved. While countries like Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have been upgrading port facilities, further investment and financing will be necessary to establish a sustainable logistics alternative.
“I mean, those are options we have to consider," Antoine said. "But we need to come up with some decisions around that."
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves echoed similar concerns, noting that the ministers also discussed the revised World Economic Outlook and the potential regional impact of the U.S. tariff policy.
“A lot of the countries in the Caribbean are not massive exporters to the United States. They are goods exporters. Our economies are increasingly evolving towards services," Gonsalves told SKNVibes News. "However, the United States still remains the dominant point of contact for our imports, not only of American goods, but goods from Latin America, goods from Europe, goods from further afield,”
He emphasized that the Port of Miami acts as the gateway for most goods entering the Caribbean, regardless of their country of origin. With new tariffs looming after a 90-day grace period, prices are expected to rise, potentially dampening economic growth.
“European products come through Miami," Gonsalves said. "And if a tariff is slapped on all of those products before they are on ship to the Caribbean, it will have an inflationary impact. It will have a negative impact on growth,”
In light of these developments, Gonsalves also stressed the need for the Caribbean to establish its own logistics hub.
With the region now facing the real impact of these trade barriers, several Caribbean territories are holding bilateral meetings with U.S. trade officials.
“We are making repeated demarches,” Gonsalves noted. “The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States is going to have a separate group encounter with both foreign affairs and trade officials in the coming weeks, and we are going to make our case. But we are cognizant of the headwinds that we're facing in this regard.”
