CARICOM Summit | Johnson Smith and Barbados counterpart to lead push to dismantle trade barriers
Published:Tuesday | July 8, 2025 | 3:26 PM
Jamaica’s Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith and Barbados’s Kerrie Symmonds will lead a CARICOM review to remove regional trade barriers, amid urgent calls to boost intra-regional commerce and respond to new United States tariffs.
The move comes as the Caribbean grapples with shifting global trade dynamics, including new United States tariffs that threaten long-standing export advantages under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI).
CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced the update while addressing a CARICOM Private Sector Organisation and Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica breakfast forum in Montego Bay. Regional leaders are meeting for their midyear conference.
Holness said Johnson Smith and Symmonds will spearhead a strategic review aimed at dismantling internal trade obstacles that have slowed progress on regional integration.
“Let’s be honest, some of these barriers were created by us,” Holness said. “Now we must dismantle them, with the same urgency we apply to external negotiations.”
The announcement is part of a broader call by Holness for regional leaders to act decisively in strengthening the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), especially in light of the 10 per cent baseline tariff the United States has imposed on CARICOM exports.
While the tariff structure varies by country, with Trinidad and Guyana subject to slightly different terms, the across-the-board shift marks a significant departure from the duty-free access previously enjoyed under the CBI, a US trade programme established in 1983, primarily aimed at promoting economic development in the Caribbean and Central American countries by providing preferential trade benefits.
“For Jamaica and many others, the CBI has been vital to the competitiveness of our agricultural, light manufacturing, and food and beverage exports,” Holness said. “This marks a major shift from decades of preferential access.”
The prime minister assured business leaders that Jamaica has been actively engaging the US government, including through former Ambassador to Washington, Audrey Marks, and the external negotiations team, to advocate for fairer trade terms.
“We have engaged the US Trade Representative and we are working on your behalf to get the best results,” he said.
Holness emphasised that the region must not rely solely on diplomatic overtures abroad. Instead, he said CARICOM must build a more self-reliant economic framework by boosting intra-regional trade, reforming customs procedures, and strengthening production linkages.
“Our response must include accelerating intra-regional trade,” Holness said. “We must not be overly dependent on any one market.”
He also urged the region’s private sector to seize opportunities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and to embrace digital platforms and cross-border logistics as part of a broader diversification strategy.
“These new tariffs are a wake-up call,” he warned. “We must secure fair trade conditions abroad, but we must also build a strong, competitive base at home.”
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