A&B AND OTHER CARICOM STATES TO SEEK CLARITY ON TARIFFS FROM US SECRETARY OF STATE

Tariffs imposed by the United States on Caricom countries will be a major area of discussion when Prime Minister Hon. Gaston Browne and six fellow Caricom leaders meet with U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in Washington D.C. on May 6.
The leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts Nevis, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada and The Bahamas will be raising the issue of the 10 per cent baseline tariffs now in effect for goods from all Caricom countries.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, says these tariffs run counter to the arrangements in place since Ronald Reagan was U.S. president in the 1980s.
The Caribbean Basin Initiative and subsequent mechanisms facilitated duty-free access into the U.S. for a wide range of goods from countries in the region.