Editorial | Leveraging the European Union

When Ursula von der Leyen visited the region last month, she not only underlined the strong relationship between Europe and the Caribbean, but pointedly emphasised the European Union’s (EU) reliability as a partner.

“Europe and the Caribbean may be an ocean apart, but we are close allies,” said the European Commission president. “... Europe wants to be a fair and trusted partner for all regions of the world that want to work with us.”

One possible interpretation of Ms von der Leyen’s message – and one she likely expected to be gleaned – was that the EU is not like the United States of Donald Trump.

Indeed, among the areas of shared values and interest Ms von der Leyen highlighted was “our mutual support for Ukraine” in its war with Russia, the fight against climate change, and strengthening global trade. All of these are areas of tension between the United States and Europe. And some of them are matters of grave concern to the regional economic group, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which fears that the region will be among the collateral damage of some of Mr Trump’s policies.

UNDERTAKE ANALYSIS

In the circumstances, and in the face of Ms von der Leyen’s nudging, it would only be responsible for CARICOM (Jamaica is a member) to undertake an analysis of its relations with the EU to determine how well it works, if greater value can be extracted from it, and how Europe might be used as a buffer against any fallout from Mr Trump’s action. Indeed, this should be part of a major review of the region’s global relations, which should be commissioned by the Council for Foreign and Community Relations – if it has not done so as yet.

Ms von der Leyen came to the Caribbean to attend the CARICOM Summit in Barbados, with the aim, according to the EU, “of further strengthening the EU’s presence in the region and laying the groundwork for the EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Summit, planned for later this year”.

At the time of her visit, Mr Trump, who has called global warming and climate change “a hoax”, was only in office for a month. But he had already signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, and, in sharp contrast to the EU’s staunch backing of Kiev, had already begun to soften America’s posture towards Russia over the war in Ukraine.

And having already largely torn up the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico (which accounts for five per cent of global trade), Mr Trump was also talking about imposing hefty tariffs on US imports from the EU.

Mr Trump has separately proposed reciprocal arrangements with all countries with which the United States conducts trade. If construed literally, and implemented in that fashion, it would mean that the United States would apply the same level of duties on imports from a country similar to what that country applies on products imported from America. The size, or stage of development, of the country would not matter.

This issue has raised the spectre of the collapse of a suite of non-reciprocal trade agreements, broadly called the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), that the United States has had in place for the Central American and Caribbean countries for over 40 years.

HARDLINE IMMIGRATION POLICIES

There are also concerns that hardline immigration policies by Mr Trump, and the fear these have generated even among legal immigrants, could slow remittances to the region. Last year, Jamaica received US$3.36 billion, the second-largest source of foreign exchange after the tourism industry (US$4.38 billion in 2024). Two-thirds of the inflow is from the United States, where an estimated 1.2 million Jamaicans, or people of Jamaican origin, reside. There is also worry that Mr Trump’s geopolitical posture could derail continued investment in the region by China, which, over the last decade and a half, has been the main funder of infrastructure in several Caribbean countries, including Jamaica.

But nothing over the medium to long term is graver for the Caribbean – a region of small island developing states – than climate change. Rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns and increasingly severe weather events, in the absence of capital to build for resilience, pose existential threats to the region.

Jamaica and the rest of CARICOM are close to the United States. The region cannot move out of the neighbourhood. Neither should it intentionally disrupt historically warm relationships with the powerful next-door neighbour.

The asymmetry of US-Caribbean relations, however, should not prevent the region from attempting to build new alliances or strengthen and expand existing ones – such as that which exists with the EU.

Already, the EU and CARIFORUM (CARICOM and the Dominican Republic) are parties to a reciprocal free trade agreement, which in 2023 generated €18.3 billion in bilateral trade, an eight per cent decline over the previous year. The region also receives developmental assistance from the EU under the Samoa Agreement, covering over 70 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, with which the EU previously had a single preferential trade pact.

Jamaica and CARICOM, as a specific subregional group, must consider how they can make these arrangements work better, and in their interests, especially at a time when Europe, too, is seeking friends.