CPSO: T&T could take significant hit from US tariffs

 

The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) is warning that the decision by the United States to increase Trinidad and Tobago's reciprocal tariff rate from 10-15 per cent could result in the most severe absolute impact on any of the 15-member CARICOM member states. 

 

CPSO Chief Executive Officer and Technical Director, Dr. Patrick Antoine, says Trinidad and Tobago was already the most exposed CARICOM economy under the reciprocal tariff regime. 

 

Dr. Antoine says this adjustment not only increases the scale of potential losses, but it does so in sectors that are vital to Trinidad's industrial capacity and to US manufacturers who rely on Trinidad's exports for input, linking also the development of a broader erosion of CARICOM's historic trade position with the US.