00:00The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association has a number of questions and concerns as it relates to the government's push
00:08to have this country become part of South American trade bloc MERCOSU, a move the TTME says could be disadvantageous
00:16to local trade given the scale of their operations.
00:20The two key things, Renessa, is determining what is our offensive interests and more importantly what is our defensive interests,
00:29meaning what we need to protect, what local sectors we need to protect.
00:33If we close down operations in Trinidad and Tobago, it's not just that that good is not being produced anymore.
00:40Three things. The good is not being produced, unemployment will be created, and foreign exchange that we could have otherwise
00:46get when we export, we're not going to get that.
00:49So these things have to be really thought out. We need to really understand this, but I don't know who's
00:54leading this charge, and that is the worrisome thing, because I don't think it's the ministry talking to the ministry
01:00people. I think it's foreign affairs.
01:02I'm going to say the ministry initially, I'm in ministry of trade, but we will see how it unfolds.
01:07The TTME is also questioning whether CARICOM was consulted on the matter.
01:12Even if Trinidad signed in a partial scope agreement, because we are part of CARICOM, we have to get approval
01:20from CARICOM, because if we allow market cereal goods to come into the Trinidad market, duty-free, right?
01:27Let's say it's a partial, it's a bilateral. What that does is erode the rest of CARICOM goods who come
01:33into Trinidad.
01:34TTME suggests that a miracle cereal arrangement could work if only items not produced locally are imported.
01:42The association is calling for a full consultation with local stakeholders before any commitments are made.
01:49TTME wasn't informed at all of this proposed arrangement with Mercosur.
01:56So we heard it for the first time when everybody else heard it.
02:00So it came as a shock to us. There was no consultation at this time.
02:04I guess it was maybe an impulse decision to have this conversation, saying that all the leaders were meeting in
02:11the United States.
02:12I can't say right now if it's good, bad or indifferent.
02:16I think we need to do the research.
02:18We can't just throw this on us and the traders and say, OK, well, we're going to sign this thing.
02:22You all come on board. It's not like that.
02:24Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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