Prospects for the immediate-term fortunes of local rum manufacturers Demerara Distillers Ltd, in the light of what the company sees as a backing away from global free trade is likely to be one of the critical areas of interest, going forward, company Chairman Komal Samaroo says in the recently released 2017 annual report.
While alluding broadly in the “Chairman’s Report” to what he said was “the apparent reversal trend for free trade,” a development which he said had manifested itself in “some western countries” Samaroo’s comment appears to point to what has become the increasing inclination towards a likely global trade war in the wake of United States President Donald Trump’s threatened slapping of tariffs on imports in a move which he says is designed to protect vulnerable American industries but which has sparked controversy amongst some of his closest political allies.
President Trump’s February jibe about trade wars being “good and easy to win” would not have escaped DDL, one of Guyana’s two rum manufacturing giants, given the fact that it is now a leading supplier of bulk rum to bottlers in North America. “Internationally, we will continue to monitor the potential impact of the apparent reversal trend for free trade as some western countries who previously championed this cause, now appear to be resorting to more nationalistic policies.,” Samaroo says,
