Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 4 months ago
With the latest tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, former Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran is urging Trinidad and Tobago to adopt a strategy of commercial diplomacy and multi alignment.

Dookeran says this approach is vital for the country's economic security, and long-term sustainability.


Tv6's Nicole M Romany has the details.
Transcript
00:00According to Dukaran, who is also an economist, academic and a former central bank governor,
00:06the current U.S. tariff regime remains unpredictable. Due to this uncertainty, he stresses
00:13that it's time for CARICOM to adopt a new approach to safeguard its economic interests.
00:19By commercial diplomacy I need, we must get to those who are affected and start to look at
00:26other markets that might be as relevant to us as indeed the current market,
00:33while at the same time we see how we can negotiate any kind of arrangements at the level of the market
00:42and the commercial arrangements with ourselves and the buyers of our products.
00:47Dukaran says that while the United States remains a critical trading partner for both imports and
00:54exports, it's equally important to explore and strengthen ties with other markets.
01:00The United States remain our main trading partners and therefore it's not a matter of moving away,
01:09it's a matter of diversifying your market outlets including the United States. So therefore it is
01:17necessary to look at other markets perhaps in other parts of the world.
01:24However, Dukaran does not believe that the tariffs will put our food security at risk,
01:30but he is concerned that the owners of foreign exchange in the export sectors may be impacted.
01:37Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment