Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

CARICOM could be the shield against global trade chaos

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

This article reblogged from caribbeantradelaw.com

Deeper CARICOM integration key to navigating fractured global trade order – CARICOM ASG

Written by 

caribbeantradelaw Caribbean, CARICOM, regional integration

CARICOM Secretariat | Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana | Thursday, 29 January 2026:     A senior Caribbean Community (CARICOM) official has positioned deeper regional integration as a strategic response to an increasingly fragmented and uncertain global trade environment, as global rules-based systems weaken and economic nationalism intensifies.

Ambassador Wayne McCook, Assistant Secretary-General, CARICOM Single Market and Trade, was a panelist discussing Prospects for International Trade in 2026 in the Context of the Changing Global Geopolitical and Economic Landscape – Impact on Trade and the Challenges and Opportunities for the Caribbean and Latin America. The discussion was held on Wednesday, 28 January, at the World Trade Centre in Georgetown, Guyana.

Contextualising the Region’s position, Amb. McCook said: “For our Region, the scars of the immediate past are visible. The devastating passage of Hurricane Melissa encapsulated the dual challenge we face: the existential threat of climate change and the inherent economic vulnerabilities of our CARICOM Member States. Simultaneously, we have navigated dramatic shifts in global trade, driven largely by an intensified “America First” trade policy that has significantly impacted our exports, value chains and supply chains through a suite of unprecedented tariff measures.”

Against the background of what he described as “a truly tumultuous 2025” for international and regional trade, Amb. McCook highlighted CARICOM’s “oneness” and its resilience to navigate the “choppy waters” of the 21st century.

Amb. McCook warned that the erosion of multilateral trade norms is no longer theoretical, but already affecting investment, supply chains, and growth prospects worldwide.

According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global foreign direct investment fell by 11 per cent in 2024, marking a second consecutive year of decline, with further weakness expected in 2026. Global trade growth has slowed dramatically, falling below one per cent in 2025, even as uncertainty and geopolitical rivalry reshape supply chains.

Despite these headwinds, CARICOM’s trade performance has shown resilience. Between 2023 and 2024, CARICOM exports grew by 32 per cent to US$34.7B, with exports to the United States increasing by 86 per cent. However, recent data reveals uneven impacts across Member States.

The Assistant Secretary-General pointed to the recent steps toward full free movement of people by Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as tangible progress toward a more integrated Community.

“Fundamentally, CARICOM integration should be seen as a strategic response to a shifting global order,” he emphasised.

Addressing prospects for international trade in 2026, he advanced a multi-pronged strategy focused on strengthening intra-regional trade, strengthening existing relationships while diversifying global partnerships beyond traditional allies, and deepening economic integration. Central to this approach is the CARICOM Industrial Policy and Strategy (CIPS), and the 25×25+5 food security agenda aimed at reducing food import dependence and boosting regional production.


Read his presentation here: https://caricom.org/deeper-caricom-integration-key-to-navigating-fractured-global-trade-order-amb-wayne-mccook/

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

8 responses to “CARICOM could be the shield against global trade chaos”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    CDB working to unlock capital

    By Shawn Cumberbatch in Panama shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com

    The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is intensifying efforts, including the implementation of new programmes, to widen access to millions of dollars in financing and technical assistance for clients in Barbados and its other borrowing member countries.

    President Daniel Best gave that commitment here during the CAF Latin America and Caribbean Economic Forum at the Panama Convention Centre.

    Financing need

    He was concerned that with Caribbean entrepreneurs and businesses having an overall financing need of US$10 billion, there was more than US$7 billion in liquidity, including commercial bank savings, not reaching them.

    Best was participating in a panel discussion on South-South Connection: Community Of Latin American And Caribbean States-Africa Partnerships Toward A New Global Leadership.

    “In the Caribbean . . . we have in excess of US$7 billion in liquidity in our commercial banking sector sitting doing nothing,” he lamented.

    “But what we have also is . . . entrepreneurs and businesses with approximately US$10 billion of ideas that are going nowhere, and we have US$6 billion to US$7 billion in funding that isn’t reaching them, so we have a disconnect.

    “We in the multilateral development banking community can’t continue to sit on the sidelines and hope that it is figured out between the banking sector and the private sector and government.”

    The CDB boss noted this was why “last year, we developed a trade finance guarantee programme, providing first loss guarantees to the commercial banking sector, for entrepreneurs, for businesses, focused on trade.

    “What does that mean? It reduces the risk of commercial banks to invest in these companies, thereby unlocking capital from the commercial banks, but also facilitating the movement of goods and services intraregionally and across the Atlantic, to Africa and to other parts of the world,” he said.

    Technical assistance

    “We didn’t stop there. We are providing [technical assistance] to those businesses to become ready to move their finances. It’s not an indictment on commercial banks, but just . . . the fact that they haven’t done it very often. Most commercial banks and the loans officers that these entrepreneurs will face have no idea how to appraise these projects.

    “So we are actually undertaking training in the commercial banking sector, such that when these new businesses are cleared for loans and they’re going to the bank, officers will know how to appraise them, thereby unlocking trade.”

    Best also reported that last month, the CDB’s board approved the Caribbean Community Resilience Fund developed by Sygnus, an equity house out of Jamaica, US$250 million to develop projects in the Caribbean.

    “But not just looking at projects within the Caribbean, but providing technical assistance to businesses within the Caribbean to help them prepare their projects and get them to a stage of readiness for capital investment.”

    Best also said the CDB was “developing perhaps the most comprehensive community mapping that has ever taken place in the Caribbean, and with that, we will be far more targeted in how we design projects and programmes”.

    He said that while now was a challenging time for the Caribbean, including from geopolitical challenges, the region remained “a highly, highly investable place. We have natural endowments in terms of both our tourism assets, but also, of course, commodities.

    “We have a highlyeducated workforce, and most importantly, we have stable, democraticallyelected governments. And not withstanding how this year may have begun for us, it is still a zone of peace in the world,” he asserted.

    Source: Nation

  2. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    This writer is unsure about both the intent of this article and one which follows, as above.

    For these seem to be rehashing dated narratives which we’ve been reciting for 50 years.

    We’ve gone down the road of greater regional trade previously and in one case Barbados was left holding the big.

    The mechanisms for inflows of capital seem not to have delivered the developments hoped for and they have appeared, it seems, that that capital investment was primarily extractive.

    It may be time for some new ideas.

  3. David Avatar
    David

    It is a William Skinner narrative.

    #blogmasterleavestheroom

  4. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Yes! What makes it worse is that a Barbados central bank governor came out a few days ago behaving more like a Mottley administration defender than an arbitor for national interests.

    A governor currently sitting on maybe 100 percent USD denominated national reserves, in an election period, could only act to buttress the Mottley regime, even as international the USD is under growing pressures, while markets are telling us that trouble is around the corner.

    Greenidge is to Mottley what Bissent is to Trump, mere peons! Long gone are the days when the gatekeepers would protect the public from the purely political operators.

  5. Horsemeat Avatar
    Horsemeat

    If the new Fed Chair buckles to Trump, the USD will slide substantially. Trump will undoubtedly try to use the Fed to print money, which will further devalue the dollar, will send US domestic borrowing rates up and cause a significant rise in US inflation.

    Coupled with friction in global trade with the US, a prolonged period of stagflation will ensue.

    Looking at bread lines, soup kitchens, akin to 1929. Trump and the Republicans have severely damaged the economy and are on the verge of putting it into a depression.

    This disaster will take years to correct, even when the Republicans are out of office.

    The Caribbean must be prepared to live in such a scenario, trading with whomever is possible.

    The first port of call needs to be both food and energy independence, a push to solar conversions for all households for a start.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Horsemeat

    Marsh’s senate confirmation as fed chair is contingent on midterm elections?

  7. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    True! it is a WS narrative

  8. David Avatar
    David

    https://youtu.be/W2rZ9cdRbP0?

The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading