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  • Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – October 3-9, 2021

    Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – October 3-9, 2021

    Welcome to the Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest for the week of October 3-9, 2021! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week.

    We continue to express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Haiti who were affected by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14, and then by Tropical Storm Grace just days later. Even though the international media has largely moved on from the ‘story’, our Haitian brothers and sisters still need your help. Please assist by reaching out to reputable charities/aid agencies if you are so able.

    THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    This week October 3-7, Barbados made history by hosting the 15th session of the UNCTAD (UNCTAD-15), and becoming the smallest State and first Caribbean country to do so. ALthough primarily a virtual event, some high level delegates attended in person, including UN SG Antonio Guterres, UNCTAD SG Rebeca Gynspan, Commonwealth SG Dame Patricia Scotland and Caribbean Comunity (CARICOM) SG Dr. Carla Barnett.

    Barbados’ Prime Minister the Hon. Mia A. Mottley has assumed the presidency of UNCTAD for the next three years, taking over from Kenya which was the chair of the UNCTAD 14. The main outcome documents – the Bridgetown Covenant and the Spirit of Speightstown– adopted by the Conference at the closing plenary, as well as the other outcome documents may be accessed here.

    Global deal on tax reform reached

    On October 8, 136 jurisdictions (out of the 140 members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS) joined the Statement on the Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy which updates and finalises a July political agreement by members of the Inclusive Framework to fundamentally reform international tax rules. Read more here

    REGIONAL NEWS

    Barbados and Guyana seek common ground in bilateral talks

    Nation News: Barbados and Guyana held bilateral talks on several issues on the sidelines of the 15th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. Read more

    Barbados Reiterates Call For Concessional Financing

    Barbados Govt: Concessional financing is necessary for Barbados and other small island developing states (SIDS) to adapt to the economic and environmental shocks brought about by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

    Nigeria exploring business opportunities with Jamaica

    JIS: Nigeria is exploring opportunities for greater trade and business linkages with Jamaica, says Nigerian High Commissioner, Dr. Maureen Tamuno. Read more

    Afreximbank and Government of Barbados enter milestone understanding for Africa diaspora trade ties

    Barbados Today: African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Government of Barbados have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand trade and investment links between Africa and the Caribbean island state. Read more

    Kenya, Barbados sign bilateral agreements on aviation, trade

    Star (Kenya): Kenya and Barbados have signed three key bilateral agreements for cooperation in aviation, environmental conservation, trade and investment. Read more

    ESW to ease business facilitation in Barbados

    Barbados Today: Barbadians involved in the business of imports and exports will find it easier in the coming months to do business across the public sector when over two dozen government departments are merged into an Electronic Single Window (ESW). Read more

    Mottley: Revamp ‘outdated, unfair’ global trade system

    Barbados Today: Presiding over UNCTAD15, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has advocated a complete revamp in the way in which the global trade system is run. Read more

    Plans to trade in local dollars within the region

    Barbados Today: If all goes according to plan, Barbados and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states could soon be trading with each other in their own local currency instead of US dollars. Read more

    PM Mottley outlines way forward following UNCTAD 15

    LoopBarbados: Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has identified a number of initiatives to be worked on after the staging of UNCTAD 15 in Barbados, including three upcoming fora on trade logistics, investment and the creative industries. Read more

    PM Briceno Returns from an Official Trip to Mexico

    LoveFM: Prime Minister John Briceno returned home over the weekend after heading a delegation in Mexico where he engaged in a series of bilateral meetings. During the five-day visit, PM Briceno and his team met with several government ministers and representatives of Mexican bodies with the aim to expand trade and investment opportunities for the Belizean economy. Here is what he told the Government Press Office on Saturday. Read more

    Belize is 1 of 3 Caribbean countries that produces more than 50% of the food it consumes

    BBN: As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) celebrates the annual 16TH Caribbean Week of Agriculture (WAG), it’s good to note that Belize is one of only three countries in the Caribbean that produces more than 50 percent of the food it consumes, according to New York Carib News. The other two are Guyana and Haiti said the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Read more

    Caribbean warned vulnerability to food production is stark

    Jamaica Observer: A senior official of the Caricom Secretariat has warned that the current vulnerability of the food production in the region is stark, as collectively the Caribbean continues to be buffeted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the ravages of climate change, pests and plant-borne diseases and other associated maladies, however, he noted that there are indeed opportunities. Read more

    Guyana, Brazil closer to further develop local agri. sector

    Newsroom: Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha on Saturday met with the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Roraima, Brazil, Mr. Aluizio Nascimento da Silva to discuss collaboration between the two countries to further develop agriculture and trade. Read more

    Guyana will be aggressive on dismantling barriers to intra-regional agri trade – President

    Stabroek: Guyana’s President, Irfaan Ali has called for the removal of trade barriers which he says only serve to restrict regional agricultural trade and curtail food exports and the attainment of regional food security. Read more

    Guyana reiterates pledge to agricultural land for investment

    NYCaribNews: President Dr. Irfaan Ali, in a virtual address to the WAG, said that providing the land is part of his administration’s efforts to guarantee that the Caribbean has enough food to feed its population. Read more

    CARICOM SG wants debt reduction as part of post COVID-19 response

    Jamaica Gleaner: Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Carla Barnett, says an effective response to the post coronavirus (COVID-19) economic situation must include significant and broad debt reduction for all developing countries. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    Trade war looms as UK set to spurn EU offer on Northern Ireland

    Guardian: EU leaders urged to push back against No 10’s brinkmanship over role of European Court of Justice. Read more

    Shipping crisis ‘to last until next summer’ as container vessels queue in the Channel for European ports

    iNews: Giant vessels are waiting up to a week to enter some ports, following a warning from a UK minister over ‘major concerns’ about shortages in the run-up to Christmas. Read more

    ‘Containergeddon’: Supply crisis drives Walmart and rivals to hire their own ships

    Reuters: The Flying Buttress once glided across the oceans carrying vital commodities like grain to all corners of the world. Read more

    Regional integration offers path to resilient future, UNCTAD15 hears

    UNCTAD: As multilateralism fails to provide many developing countries with the tools they need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, regional cooperation offers hope to building back better. Read more

    International trade is back, but not for all

    UNCTAD: International merchandise trade is booming. Exports of many countries are growing at double digit rates and global trade has already surpassed the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. However, the global trade recovery hides an important asymmetry: small economies and the poorest countries are falling behind. Their recovery is not yet in sight. Read more

    At UN trade meeting, Guterres urges ‘quantum leap in support’ for vulnerable nations

    UN: Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic must be sustainable and inclusive, Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to a major UN trade conference which opened on Monday in Barbados, unveiling “an urgent four-point debt crisis action plan.” Read more

    UK prepares for trade deal with Gulf Cooperation Council

    Gov.uk:A fourteen-week consultation to seek views on a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council begins. Read more

    Ecuador eyes trade deals with China, Russia in bid for investment

    Reuters: Ecuador is aiming to negotiate trade deals with China, Russia and South Korea in the next four years, the Andean nation’s Production and International Trade Minister said on Thursday, adding that closing a deal with the United States is a priority. Read more

    China presses U.S. to cancel tariffs in test of bilateral engagement

    CNBC: China said on Saturday it pressed the United States to eliminate tariffs in talks between the countries’ top trade officials that Washington saw as a test of bilateral engagement between the world’s biggest economies. Read more

    Free Trade Agreement Talks with UAE, Australia Going Full Steam Ahead: Piyush Goyal

    News18: Negotiations for the proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) with the UAE and Australia are “going full steam ahead” and officials of both the sides are working on the deadlines to conclude the talks, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday. Read more

    Piyush Goyal pushes for ASEAN FTA renegotiation

    The Hindu: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for a renegotiation of the India-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA), to prevent its misuse by ‘third parties’ and remove trade restrictions as well as non-tariff barriers that he said have hurt Indian exports disproportionately since the pact was operationalised in 2010. Read more

    Australia sees trade deal with EU by end-2022 -minister

    Reuters: Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said on Friday he expected to finalise a free trade agreement with the European Union by the end of next year, despite the EU’s anger over Canberra’s cancellation of a submarine contract with France. Read more

    STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO

    NEW ON THE CTLD BLOG

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest produced and published by the Caribbean Trade Law & Development Blog. Liked this issue? To read past issues, please visit here. To receive these mailings directly to your inbox, please subscribe to our Blog below:

  • Barbados’ hosting of UNCTAD 15 historic for island and the world

    Barbados’ hosting of UNCTAD 15 historic for island and the world

    Alicia Nicholls

    Barbados will be writing its name on history’s page this week as it becomes the smallest nation and first Caribbean country to host the 15th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15) on October 3-7, 2021. In normal times, this week would have seen an influx of thousands of delegates into the island to participate in the negotiations and meetings, as well as the various side events. This would have been a much-needed shot in the arm for our tourism sector and wider economy. However, the Conference, which had been postponed from 2020 due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, is being held virtually.

    But in every challenge, there is opportunity. The conference’s virtual nature opens it up to the general public in a way that previously might not have obtained, allowing anyone interested to register and follow the open sessions.  A small contingent of high-level delegates, however, are on island. The most notable include the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, UNCTAD Secretary-General, Rebecca Grynspan, Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland and CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett.

    As I had noted in an article I wrote shortly after the exciting news of Barbados’ successful bid in 2019 to host the conference, the success of our island’s bid is a significant achievement for several reasons. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, UNCTAD is the United Nations’ main subsidiary organ dealing with trade and development matters. Barbados will be the first Caribbean country and first Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to host the quadrennial conference, which is UNCTAD’s highest decision-making body which sets that organisation’s mandate and priorities every four years. The first quadrennial was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1964 and the 14th Conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2016.

    Despite being held virtually, this conference gives Barbados – a country of just 166 squared miles and a population of 287,000 (World Bank 2020 data) – unprecedented international exposure on the world stage. In a virtual way, it exposes the world to our music, our country and reiterates the Barbados brand as a voice for small States, and wider development issues. Indeed, Barbados  has always sought to be a thought-leader and global voice championing the issues affecting small States not only with regard to trade, but also climate change. For example, in 1994, Barbados hosted the UN Global Conference on Sustainable Development for Small Island Developing States, out of which had come the Barbados Programme of Action. Barbados’ ability to pivot from planning for a physical conference to a virtual one cements our country as a logical choice for conference tourism and a perfect venue to host high-level conferences on the world stage.

    Although the World Trade Organization (WTO) has increasingly incorporated development into its work, its main role is to serve as the global body for setting the rules of the multilateral trading system. The Geneva-based UNCTAD was born in 1964 following concerns about the need for a special conference to address the place of developing countries in international trade, and amidst the belief that the GATT (the precursor to the WTO) was not sensitive enough to the needs of developing countries. UNCTAD serves as an important forum for world leaders from both developed and developing countries to put their collective wisdom together to treat to the most pressing trade and development issues confronting us in a multilateral setting and for the sharing of best practices. The UNCTAD Secretariat also produces high-quality research and policy analysis on a variety of trade and development issues. I am a particular fan of their research work on investment law and policy, which is one of my research areas. It also provides technical assistance to developing countries to assist in making trade and investment have a greater development impact.

    Hosting the UNCTAD Quadrennial gives Barbados the opportunity to have a strong imprint in setting UNCTAD’s trade and development mandate and work priorities for the next now three years. This is even more pertinent now given the multiplicity of global issues whose disproportionately sharp impact on SIDS has been given greater focus and encapsulated in the conference’s theme “from inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all”. These challenges include not just climate change, but the COVID-19 pandemic which has struck a hard blow to the tourism industry of many SIDS and also further worsened these countries’ debt profiles at a time when many have been rendered ineligible for most concessional financing due to income per capita considerations. Already Barbados’ hosting of UNCTAD15 has led to the first UNCTAD Gender Forum, one of several pre-events which were held in the weeks leading up the conference.

    While many Barbadians feel a strong sense of pride at our country’s hosting of this event, for those not in the trade or development spaces it is not always easy to appreciate what this means for the ordinary man or woman on the street. Like most SIDS, Barbados is a small open economy, which is highly dependent on international trade. From the clothes we wear, most of the food we eat, the cars we drive, all of them are reliant on trade. In the midst of this pandemic, we can appreciate even more the importance of trade and efficient supply chains in order to get access to medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE), items which we do not manufacture ourselves. We all benefit from trade in some way, but this does not negate that trade produces both ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ and while it can empower, it can also negatively impact marginalized groups in the absence of sound development policies.  How can we ensure that trade takes into account its gendered impact or that youth are empowered to participate more in trade? How can we ensure that other countries’ protectionist policies do not block our access to food stuffs or much needed medical equipment? How can trade help with the achievement of the SDGs by the 2030 deadline? These are all issues which world leaders will discuss and it will be incumbent on all of us, the youth, civil society, to ensure that they follow through with their commitments.

    At the opening ceremony held October 4, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados was formally elected as the President of UNCTAD’s 15th session, which she will hold for the next three years.

    The outcome document of the conference, which will be the work programme for UNCTAD for the next three years, is expected to include many issues impacting SIDS.  As a young trade and development professional and as a Barbadian, I am truly proud of my country for rising to the occasion to host this important event. While the more sensitive negotiating sessions will be closed, I look forward to following the open sessions throughout the week and seeing the final outcome document Members agree to.

    You can find the pre-conference negotiating text here. You can follow the UNCTAD activities here and access the programme here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. All views herein expressed are her personal views and should not be attributed to any institution with which she may from time to time be affiliated. You can read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

  • Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – September 26-October 2, 2021

    Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – September 26-October 2, 2021

    Welcome to the Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest for the week of September 26-October 2, 2021! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week.

    We continue to express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Haiti who were affected by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14, and then by Tropical Storm Grace just days later. Even though the international media has largely moved on from the ‘story’, our Haitian brothers and sisters still need your help. Please assist by reaching out to reputable charities/aid agencies if you are so able.

    THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    The WTO’s Public Forum was held this week under the theme “Trade Beyond COVID-19: Building Resilience”. Read more here.

    On September 30, 2021, the USITC released its latest report on the operation of the CBERA programme. Haiti, Barbados and Grenada tied for being the countries with the highest rate of utilisation of the programme. Read about this and other findings in my article on it here.

    UNCTAD 15 is finally here!

    The biggest news this coming week is that from October 3-7, Barbados will be hosting the 15th session of the UNCTAD (UNCTAD-15), which was postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Barbados will make history as the first Caribbean nation and the smallest State to host the UNCTAD quadrennial. Ordinarily, such an event would have led to thousands of delegates physically coming to Barbados to engage in the meetings and various side events, which would have been an important boost to our economy. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be held virtually with only a small number of delegates on island, most notably the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and UNCTAD Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan. You can follow the UNCTAD activities here and access the programme here.

    REGIONAL NEWS

    Cuba begins commercial exports of local vaccines

    Jamaica Observer: Cuba has begun commercial exports of its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, sending shipments of the three-dose Abdala vaccine to Vietnam and Venezuela. Read more

    African, Caribbean nations press ahead with new partnership

    Barbados Today: Trade and investment links between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African Union are in line for major strengthening as officials of the African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) hold talks with officials in Bridgetown and the rest of the region. Read more

    Kenya’s president to visit Barbados

    Barbados Advocate: Just days after playing host to the President of the Africa Export-Import Bank, Barbados will be receiving a visit from another high-level African official as Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected on-island on Monday. Read more

    Belize Prime Minister John Briceño says meeting with Mexican Employers Association was fruitful for trade and investment

    BBN: Prime Minister John Briceño says meeting with Mexican Employers Association, la Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (Coparmex), on Tuesday during his State Visit to Mexico was fruitful. Read more

    Belize delegation discusses cross-border payment systems with Banco de Mexico officials

    BBN: A Belize Delegation met with officials of the Banco de México on Tuesday to discuss payment systems and banking relations between Belize and Mexico to support trade and investment with Mexico. Read more

    Jamaica Gov’t pushing for front-of-package labelling

    Jamaica Observer: Having easy access to information about nutritional facts and ingredients of packaged food items will enable consumers to make healthier food choices and potentially reduce the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and obesity in Jamaica. Read more

    PAHO pushing for region to produce COVID vaccines

    Jamaica Observer: Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is ramping up efforts to have COVID-19 vaccines manufactured within the Latin American and Caribbean region in order to accelerate vaccination coverage and reduce dependency on global supplies. Read more

    Gopee-Scoon: Trinidad and Tobago’s non-energy export market improving

    Newsday: Monthly revenue generated by Trinidad and Tobago’s non-energy exports is stabilising after the negative financial effects of the pandemic. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    EU court annuls Morocco trade agreement over Western Sahara

    DW: The EU Court ruled the North African country did not have the consent of the people of the Western Sahara required for the now-canceled fisheries and agricultural treaties. Read more

    Asean-EU free trade deal negotiations set to resume

    Bangkok Post: Asean is set to resume free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the EU after negotiations were suspended since 2009. Read more

    Taiwan questions China’s suitability for Pacific trade pact, fears ‘obstruction’

    Reuters: China’s restrictive practices present fundamental problems for its application to join a major pan-Pacific free trade pact, and if it joins before Taiwan there is a risk it could block their application, the island’s economy minister said. Read more

    U.S. trade chief Tai will reveal Biden’s China trade strategy on Monday

    CNBC: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will unveil the Biden administration’s long-awaited strategy for the troubled U.S.-China trade relationship in a speech on Monday at a Washington think tank, her office said. Read more

    Britain’s hopes of early post-Brexit trade deal with US appear dashed

    Guardian: Britain’s hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US have all but evaporated barring a dramatic change of heart from Joe Biden, it emerged on Tuesday as Boris Johnson held face-to-face talks in the White House. Read more

    Liz Truss: A UK-US trade deal not ‘the be all and end all’

    City AM: The former international trade secretary told a fringe event at the Conservative conference in Manchester that there are many other trade agreements the UK can close post-Brexit, apart from the long coveted one with the US. Read more

    India, Australia agree to conclude free trade agreement by 2022-end

    Business Standard: India and Australia on Thursday agreed to conclude the long-pending free trade agreement by the end of 2022 and an early harvest trade deal by as early as December. Read more

    ‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course

    Guardian: It was all going so well. Successful vaccination programmes were driving the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy, stock markets were back at record highs, and prices were rising just enough to make deflation fears a thing of the past. Read more

    Britain will threaten to scrap some Northern Ireland Brexit terms

    Guardian: Britain will threaten on Monday to dispense with some of the terms of its agreement overseeing post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying they have become too damaging to retain. Read more

    Fishing rights row: French anger as UK rejects most permits

    BBC: Fresh tensions have surfaced between Britain and France over post-Brexit fishing rights. In the latest round of applications, the UK granted just 12 licences from 47 bids for smaller vessels to fish in its territorial waters. Read more

    EU postpones trade talks with Australia amid sub deal anger

    Reuters: Australia’s trade minister said on Friday talks with the European Union over a trade deal have been postponed, as a row over Canberra’s decision to cancel a $40 billion deal with France escalated. Read more

    Africa trade boss describes patent rules as “outdated”

    Africanews: The head of the world’s biggest free trade area, AfCFTA, has described the global intellectual property rights system as “outdated” saying it is constraining Africa’s industrialisation. Read more

    STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO

    NEW ON THE CTLD BLOG

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest produced and published by the Caribbean Trade Law & Development Blog. Liked this issue? To read past issues, please visit here. To receive these mailings directly to your inbox, please subscribe to our Blog below:

  • USITC Releases latest CBERA Report: Haiti, Barbados & Grenada have highest utilisation rate

    USITC Releases latest CBERA Report: Haiti, Barbados & Grenada have highest utilisation rate

    Alicia Nicholls

    On September 30, 2021, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) released its latest report on the operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and its impact on US industries, consumers and on beneficiary countries. Enacted in 1983 and made effective in 1984, the CBERA is one of the constituent acts under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. The CBERA allows the US President to extend to designated beneficiary countries in the Caribbean Basin non-reciprocal and unilateral duty-free or reduced duty access to the US market for a wide range of goods. The CBERA is of indefinite duration in that it has no statutory end date unlike, for instance, the other Acts. The Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) of 2000 extended preferential treatment to textiles and apparels and was most recently renewed in October 2020 until 2030.

    The 17 CBERA beneficiaries in 2020 were as follows: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin
    Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. CBTPA beneficiaries (8) in 2020: Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act of 2010 and Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006 and of 2008 (HOPE I & II) provide special preferences for Haiti and were extended in 2015 until 2025.

    The latest CBERA report found that “the impact of the CBERA program on the US economy and industries continued to be small in 2019 and 2020”, which it attributed to the fact that “the value of US imports under the CBERA preference program are a
    small share of total US imports”. Turning to the future effect of the CBERA program on the US economy, including on U.S. domestic industries and US consumers, the report found that the effect ” is likely to remain minimal for most products, given the relatively small volume of imports from CBERA countries that is unlikely to grow substantially”.

    The report highlighted that the top US imports under the CBERA were petroleum oils, methanol, T-shirts of cotton, sweaters of manmade fibers, and polystyrene. The five largest CBERA exporting countries over the reporting period were Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Guyana, Jamaica and the Bahamas. However, Haiti, Barbados and Grenada were the beneficiary countries with the highest utilisation rate (94.7%) of the programme. It is noteworthy that Barbados moved from a utilization rate of just 38.2% in 2016 (one of the lowest) to a utilization rate of 94.7% in 2020. US imports under CBERA as a share of total US imports for consumption remained small (only 0.07% in 2020), while US imports from beneficiaries that receive program preferences as a share of total US imports from beneficiary countries were 33.8% in that same year.

    The report may be accessed here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. All views herein expressed are her personal views and should not be attributed to any institution with which she may from time to time be affiliated. You can read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.