Trump again nominates Arizona businessman to become US Ambassador to Jamaica

The Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate is to deliberate on the nomination of Arizona businessman Donald R. Tapia to become ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the US to Jamaica. 

A date is to be set for the hearing.

The nomination was referred to the committee after it was submitted to the Senate by President Donald Trump on January 16. 

President Trump resubmitted Tapia’s nomination after it was sent back to the White House on January 3, 2019, after the Senate adjourned in December without making a decision. 

Tapia was nominated by President Trump last May and appeared before the committee that July where, among other things, he pledged that he would focus much of his attention on Jamaica's energy sector if he is named to the post. 

At a meeting of the committee last August to consider pending ambassador nominations, the body voted to report favourably on Tapia's nomination to the Senate. 

However, the process was not completed before the adjournment of the Senate, resulting in the nomination falling off the agenda and subsequently returning to the White House. 

Jamaica has been without a top US diplomat since the departure of Luis Moreno in July 2017. 

- Jerome Reynolds 

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