We in the Caribbean know well that actions taken by the global superpower, located in our hemisphere, can have an almost immediate impact on the ways in which our economies function and our diplomacy operates. Increasingly many of our economies are linked to the US economy, whether in the spheres of tourism, oil and gas exports or bauxite and alumina exports. Indeed, at the beginning of this decade, one of the more liberal think-tanks in the United States proffered the view that for all practical purposes, “the Caribbean is part of North America,” with the advice that we should follow the example of Mexico and join NAFTA.
As we saw in our editorial on the subject of the George Bush legacy last Wednesday, the President inherited the issue of obtaining at least NAFTA-parity for the Caribbean Basin Initiative economies, including our own, from President Clinton. The American Congress had proven recalcitrant, and Clinton eventually concluded that he had spent enough of his political capital on this matter and left the task unfinished. We can therefore say that from Caricom’s perspective, Mr Bush started off on a relatively good footing by getting the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (which established the CBI) transformed into Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), by the Congress, thus getting us NAFTA-parity.
But then a sea-change in American foreign policy occurred, with the invasion of Iraq, an act which did not obtain the support of most of the countries of the hemisphere, including the Caribbean. In our area only the Dominican Republic overtly supported the initiative. That country had been anxious to curry favour with the United States for adherence to a free trade area agreement which President Bush had offered to the Central American countries. The DR went as far as to offer 100 troops for the mission in Iraq.
