Golding questions removal of GCT on imported raw foodstuff

Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding has rubbished Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke's statement that Jamaica would have been blacklisted had general consumption tax (GCT) not been removed from imported raw foodstuff.

Following his opening of the 2024/25 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives last week Tuesday, Clarke said that Jamaica's years-long non-compliance of not removing the tax from all raw food items had placed it on the cusp of being sanctioned by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

READ: WTO compliance necessitated removal of GCT from raw foods

But, Golding, who was making his presentation in the Budget Debate Tuesday afternoon, said that the international trade body does not blacklist countries or unilaterally punish member states for non-compliance.

He said instead an aggrieved member state must first enter into consultations with a non-compliant member state to seek changes in the offending measure, or to win concessions before requesting the establishment of a panel to settle the dispute.

He said the panel will thereafter issue a report, which can subsequently be appealed before the WTO's Appellate Body.

“The minister therefore needs to state whose bidding he is doing,” Golding said.

Further, he said in recent years, tensions in the United States-China relations and Russia-European Union sanctions, resulting from the war in Ukraine, have adversely affected the working of the WTO.

He said for some time now, the WTO has not had a functioning dispute settlement mechanism, since the US decided not to appoint members of the appellate body.

Golding said the recently concluded MC-13 meeting of trade ministers in Abu Dhabi has left a number of critical issues unresolved, including subsidies in agriculture and fisheries by developed countries, reforms in the dispute settlement mechanism, and other long-outstanding issues for the benefit of small and vulnerable economies like Jamaica.

“In this context, we must question why the minister finds it necessary to proceed down this path, instead of entering into negotiations with an aggrieved party, as provided for under the WTO rules,” Golding said.

- Kimone Francis

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