00:00Trinidad and Tobago has retained a 10% tariff on export to the United States under a new
00:06trade policy announced by the Trump administration.
00:09The White House has imposed new tariffs on imports from six-day economies, replacing temporary
00:15levies that expired overnight.
00:17The new measures introduced under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 are based
00:24on the Trump administration's assessment of countries' efforts to prohibit and enforce
00:30bans on goods produced through forced labor.
00:33Countries deemed to have taken steps to prohibit forced labor face a 10% tariff, while those
00:38considered to have weaker enforcement face a higher tariff of 12.5%.
00:45Trinidad and Tobago remains in the lower 10% category alongside countries including Canada,
00:50Mexico, India, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.
00:53Meanwhile, several Caribbean and regional trading partners were placed in the higher
00:59tariff bracket.
01:00Guyana and the Bahamas are among the countries facing tariffs of 12.5% alongside China, Japan,
01:07Brazil, Australia, South Korea and Singapore.
01:11According to the White House, Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the lower tariff after
01:15implementing measures relating to prohibitions on goods produced with forced labor.
01:20The administration says the 10% rate is intended to encourage continued enforcement of those
01:26measures.
01:27The tariffs came into effect at 12.01 Friday morning and applied to goods entering the
01:32US market from the affected countries.
01:35The Trump administration says the measures cover more than 99% of US imports and are designed
01:41to strengthen labor rights while addressing what it considers unfair trade practices.
01:46While Trinidad and Tobago has avoided the higher tariff level, exporters are expected to continue
01:52monitoring developments closely as the United States has indicated it will continue reviewing
01:57the trade practices of its international partners.
02:01Aravashita Mwari Rupnarain, TV6 News.
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