CARICOM Chair Mia Mottley has proposed a series of actions to improve economic self-sufficiency, strengthen regional cooperation, and address the Caribbean’s vulnerability in global trade.
Mottley called for immediate actions, including reengaging with the United States at the highest level, acknowledging the mutual benefits of cooperation, particularly under initiatives like the Caribbean Basin Initiative. She said that the Caribbean’s small size, vulnerability, and limited manufacturing capacity make it incapable of distorting trade, which led the US to assist in promoting Caribbean exports under the initiative. “We will see how these tariffs will impact on that,” she warned.
She also stressed the importance of avoiding political divisions for personal gain, encouraging unity within the Caribbean to tackle common economic challenges. “United we stand, divided we fall,” Mottley said.
Another key suggestion from Mottley was to increase investment in Caribbean agriculture and light manufacturing, pushing for more ambitious goals in local production. “We must grow our own and produce our own as much as possible,” she said. Mottley said that strengthening small businesses and producers makes it a critical part of the strategy to build resilience in the region during times of global crises.
Supporting local products was another recommendation. Mottley encouraged consumers to buy local, stating, “Buy local and buy regional. The products are better, fresher and more competitive in many instances.”
Mottley’s last proposed action is to diversify trade partnerships with countries in Africa and Central and Latin America and renew relationships with older partners like the UK, Europe, and Canada. “We must not rely solely on one or two markets. We need to be able to sell our Caribbean goods to a wider, more stable global market.”
Moreover, Mottley pointed out the potential spillover effect on tourism. She said a possible slowdown in tourism due to rising global economic pressures threatens the Caribbean. “Worsening conditions in many of our source markets will have negative impacts on people’s ability to travel,” she said.
“We call in our regional private sector and the tourism sector to come together and to work with governments to collaborate for an immediate tourism strategy to ensure that we maintain market share numbers as a region,” Mottley stated. “I pray that I am wrong, and I’m praying that cooler heads prevail across the world and leaders come together in a new sense.”
Mia Mottley, Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), delivered a stark warning about the economic repercussions of the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States under President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” initiative. In her address, Mottley stated that these tariffs, aimed primarily at Chinese imports, could severely disrupt supply chains, causing price hikes for everyday goods in the Caribbean.
As she said, the Caribbean region, heavily reliant on imported goods from the US, is particularly vulnerable to such global trade disruptions. “Many of those commodities are either purchased directly from the United States of America or pass through the United States of America on their way to the Caribbean region,” Motthley said. “That, my friends, is a legacy of our colonial dependence.”
Motthley said that the repercussions of these tariffs will be felt by consumers across the region, regardless of their economic status. “I want every Caribbean man and every Caribbean woman to hear me: this trade war and the possibility of a 1 million to 1.5 million US dollar levy on all Chinese-made ships entering US harbours will mean higher prices for all of us.”
She stressed that the Caribbean’s economic vulnerabilities leave it susceptible to such global trade fluctuations, and even efforts to diversify the local economy won’t shield the region from the effects.
She said, “Regardless of what any of our Caribbean governments will do, we could lower our tariffs to zero in CARICOM, and it will not make a lick of difference because our economies are small and vulnerable.”
Mottley also warned of the potential negative effects on the Caribbean’s vital tourism sector, as economic challenges in key markets could reduce travel to the region. “We call in our regional private sector and the tourism sector to come together and to work with governments to collaborate for an immediate tourism strategy to ensure that we maintain market share numbers as a region,” she said.
“A lot of Caribbean people will think that these things that you’re seeing on television news or reading about are far away… But the reality, my friends, is that if you buy food, if you buy electronics, if you buy clothes, it will impact you,” Mottley added.
Mottley also appealed directly to President Trump, stating, “I say simply to President Trump, our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They’re too small to have any negative or distorting impact on your country. So I ask you to consider your decades-long friendship between your country and ours and look to the Caribbean, recognising that the family ties, yes, are strong. Let us talk, and let us work together.”
Police are investigating a shooting incident that occurred earlier today in the Cohune Walk area of Belmopan City. The shooting incident happened in front of a Chinese supermarket located by the area’s junction.
Authorities are on the scene, with police and scenes of crime officials processing the area.
Concerned Belizeans have been invited to unite against the controversial Cayo Rosario development project, which lies within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. The meeting was called Elito Arceo via social media. According to Arceo, the meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 8.”Bring your signs condemning the destruction of Cayo Rosario,” he said. “As once it is destroyed, it’s gone forever.”
Arceo added, “They will be destroying an integral part of our beloved Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We all depend on a healthy marine ecosystem to survive.”On March 27, Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai said that no dredging was occurring at the site. However, locals like tour guide Oscar Iboy have disputed this, claiming to have witnessed dredging activities themselves. Iboy stated, “The people out here in San Pedro are the ones watching and seeing the excavation that’s going on, and I don’t know what he means by they’re not doing any dredging.”
The Department of the Environment (DOE) has organised a monitoring programme to ensure compliance throughout the project’s stages.
Arceo added in his announcement statement, “If the authorities upon whose shoulders the safeguarding of the reserve falls upon and it is their responsibility, don’t care. Then we will show them that we certainly give a damn about Hol Chan. Dis da fu we Belize.”
News Five has been closely following the Trump administration’s ten percent reciprocal tariff on Belizean goods. The new policy is set to take effect on April 5th. Since the announcement, the Government of Belize has held a high-level meeting to discuss its impact on trade relations and economic growth. G.O.B. has assured Belizeans that it will use all available avenues to address the situation. However, concerns among private sector stakeholders are growing daily. Marie Sharp’s Fine Foods Limited, which has enjoyed duty-free exports to the U.S. for decades, now faces the end of these exemptions. It’s a tough spot for exporters with the U.S. as their largest market. Reporter Paul Lopez has more details.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
The Trump administration’s ten percent reciprocal tariff on Belize could have major impacts on exporting businesses. For instance, Marie Sharp Fine Foods Limited sends most of its products to the U.S. market. Adding a tax to products that have enjoyed duty-free export for decades is bad for business, says Jody Williams, the Chief Sales and Marketing Director.
Jody Williams
Jody Williams, Chief Sales and Marketing Director, Marie Sharp
“Well you know, I like the wording that is being used in the media. Trump has slapped Belize with a ten percent reciprocal tariff, because it is a big slap to Belize, to our developing nation of Belize. In that regard, it affects all exporters. Here at Marie Sharp we export to the U.S. market and for all the years Mrs. Sharp and the company has been exporting to the U.S., since nineteen, eighty-nine, to before this decision was made there was zero percent tariffs imposed on our products.”
Marie Sharp, the founder of the company, talked about this problem in her 2018 biography. She mentioned that any changes to the CARICOM Free Trade Agreement could slow down the company’s shipping and distribution to the U.S. Now, six years later, the company must get ready to deal with those impacts.
Jody Williams
“We are worried about this, because let us say for example we never put into consideration these cost of tariff into our products, into our business in the United States, likewise our importers in the U.S., they never had that ten percent in their pricing. So let us say we have our products in Walmart, Kroger’s, Amazon, that ten percent is not included there. So more than likely, this will slow down sales, slow down momentum, and less foreign exchange coming into the country. We my have to halt certain expansions because we had full momentum when it comes to U.S. sales especially with Walmart.”
Economic consultant Dr. Leroy Almendarez shared his thoughts on how the Trump administration’s tariffs are impacting Belize’s exports. He explained that even though the CARICOM Free Trade Agreement is in jeopardy, it still offers some bargaining power for developing countries like Belize.
Leroy Almendarez
Dr. Leroy Almendarez, Economic Consultant
“In 1983 the United States established what is called the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which later morphed into what is called the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. What is the purpose of that, to stimulate growth within the CARICOM economies. Products that qualify and comply to certain standards by the United States, that those products would then go into the U.S. duty free. That still exists. Then you have the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Agreement, which expanded that. There are even carve out for countries like Haiti with apparel. That still exist which means a number of our products can still take advantage. What the U.S. does is this, utilization rate. If the U.S. imports collectively as a block from CAIRCOM and it imports is about forty-nine percent of total imports and twenty-four percent of total exports, that simply means there is some level of significance there. And if it relies on us for certain exports from Belize that means we have to maintain those quotas.”
Dr. Almendarez mentioned that the U.S. trade representative in Belize needs to create a report with recommendations on whether to suspend these tariffs, in line with the trade agreement. Meanwhile, the Government of Belize isn’t wasting any time. Just one day after the tariff was imposed, they held a high-level meeting to discuss its potential impact. In a press release, the government promised to use all political and diplomatic channels to tackle the issue. However, who ends up paying the ten percent tariff—whether it’s the exporter in Belize or the importer in the U.S.—depends on the methods used to get the products there.
Jody Williams
“It all depends on shipping Inco terms. For example, let us say we use the Inco term FOB Belize, our prices are to the Port of Belize. We get it from factory to there that is the prize. Once the ship sales, automatically the ownership of those good transfer to the importer. So our importer in the U.S. will pay that ten percent, because they are importing into the U.S. this is the situation. Our importer has never included this cost, it is a surprise. So they say let us have a meeting, we cant take on the ten percent, let us do fifty, fifty, you do five percent, we do five percent. So at the end of the day we are still end up paying something. Let us change the Inco terms saying we are delivering directly to Walmart, we are doing the importation, Marie Sharp, so we will pay that full ten percent.”
A drop in revenue for exporters shipping to the U.S. means they need to cut costs. This could mean pausing expansion projects, reducing production, or even laying off staff. According to Jody Williams, Chief Sales and Marketing Director at Marie Sharp, mass layoffs are the last resort. He explained that if revenue goes down, costs have to be cut somewhere.
Jody Williams, Chief Sales and Marketing Director, Maries Sharp
“Let say our importers in the U.S. they are doing two to three containers a month, they will say no Jody we will do one or we will do one every two months. Let us wait and see if these tariff decision will be reversed. So they will not order with the same momentum and speed. And at the end of the day, this increase will go to consumer prices in the U.S. let us say a product is four forty-nine for a bottle of our product, it will go up to five ninety-nine, it all depends. We always work with a more than thirty percent margin. So if you are working with a thirty, thirty-five percent and there is a ten percent tariff, then do the math, take that thirty and minus the ten. If our sales slow down then that means it is less products from Belize going into the U.S. due to these extra cost. Even if it does not slow down, the prices go up. So consumers will not buy as quickly as possible. Let us say we were buying this amount of peppers from farmers, these amount of carrots from farmers, we are brining in foreign exchange, all of that slows down and any expansion into growing our exports to the U.S. So if money is not coming into our business and we have bills to pay and it is too much then we have to cut cost somewhere or the other.”
Belizeans who love shopping online from Chinese businesses like Shein and Temu might need to rethink their purchases. The Trump administration’s new tariff regime adds a thirty-four percent tax on products from China, on top of the existing twenty percent. Since items from these online stores are shipped from China through the U.S., a fifty-four percent duty could be applied, significantly raising the price for consumers.
Leroy Almendarez
Dr. Leroy Almendarez, Economic Consultant
“If China is now at fifty-four percent, thirty-four plus twenty, because you could see the cascading effects with the tariffs when they were mentioned. These countries are there for doing business. An online platform means you don’t need physical space so that will reduce your cost. What they can also do, which I am not sure they will do, but what some entities or business will do, is an application of a thirty-four percent tax or let us say it become fifty-four percent, you might decide to share the cost, maybe at least for a period of time, which means you have reduced your revenue as well. Let us say for example that you had already placed an order for something from China a week ago, what happens after yesterday, is an application of that tax unto that product that you have purchased, or we say that was old stock and therefore. I don’t think they will do that. So, we will really have to see how the world will react. CARICOM should have been more proactive, there could have been some anticipation that this was possible.”
The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry has started meeting with its members to talk about how the Trump administration’s tariffs might affect the private sector. Jody Williams, Vice President of BCCI, says they’re ready to advise their members and work with the government to ensure stakeholders get some relief.
Jody Williams, Vice President, B.C.C.I.
“We are on the meeting table. WE are trying to collaborate and have as much information flow as possible and to be there to advise. In this time for this new ten percent information is crucial and essential for us to see what kind of decisions we are going to make, what plan to do. What little tweaks and changes in order for an exporter to not take that ten percent. So we as chamber will provide information, do the collaboration, bring persons to the table and we will bring heads together to see how we can work along with the government, with foreign trade, to see how we could lessen the impact on us exporters. Inflation is already going on and extra percentage of inflation does not help anyone including exporters and consumers.”
Earlier today, a police officer was arraigned in Belize City Magistrate’s Court for allegedly bullying Commissioner of Police Chester Williams. While ComPol Williams got a one-month extension before leaving the Belize Police Department, his colleagues charged one of their own for allegedly bullying him on Facebook. The officer, fifty-one-year-old Barrington Gilbert Mai, also known as Barry Flowers, lives in Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District. This morning, Mai was brought to court in a police van but was snuck in through the back to avoid the cameras. By 10 a.m., he appeared before a Senior Magistrate, unrepresented, and was charged with using a computer system to publish obscene and vulgar data. The allegations state that on April 2nd, 2025, he posted obscene and vulgar content about the Commissioner of Police. Mai pleaded not guilty. While there was no objection to bail, the prosecutor requested conditions. The Senior Magistrate set bail at five thousand dollars, with one surety of the same amount or two sureties of two thousand, five hundred dollars each, which Mai met. His next court date is June 4th, 2025. Conditions of his bail include not interfering with the virtual complainant or any of his family members or prosecution witnesses and maintaining a twenty-five-foot distance from ComPol Williams and his family. Failure to comply could result in his bail being revoked.
Personnel from the Department of the Environment and other key regulatory agencies recently met to discuss the Cayo Rosario Project. This meeting addressed public concerns and the government’s assurance that the developer will meet all requirements. The Cayo Rosario Project, which has been controversial due to its location within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, dates back several years. Marion Ali spoke with Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai about the next steps and filed this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
After a recent protest against the Cayo Rosario Development Project, several government departments and agencies have come together to decide on a collective approach. This is to make sure the project’s leaders follow all environmental requirements. Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai told News Five that the team has agreed to create a schedule for a monitoring program to oversee the different stages of the project.
Anthony Mai
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer
“In this case, if we do monitoring on the island, the Mining Unit would be represented to look at the mining related issues; Essential Building Authority will look at matters related to granting approval for the construction of buildings. The Lands Department was at the meeting, and in this case the Lands Department will look for any issue related to the construction of the pier and anything within the sixty-six-feet reserve. The Coastal Zone Management Authority was in the meeting and they will look at the coastal-related issues. The Fisheries Department was there, the Fisheries Department, and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, as you know, has a co-management agreement for that particular area. So each agency during the site visit would have a specific role to play in terms of ensuring that the development meets their kind of conditions and then the D.O.E. comes in and we ensure that the overall E.C.P. is being complied with. This is the sustainable way through which the Government of Belize wants this type of projects to develop.”
Even before now, the project has had to comply with some tough regulations.
Anthony Mai
“The project went through the E.I.A. process. The E.I.A. process is a very tedious process to some degree. The importance of it, however, is that the relevant technical and scientific information is provided to the National Environmental Appraisal Committee, which currently, is comprised of 15 to 16 senior people within government, people from NGOs, people from the private sector, and from academia. So the E.I.A. report provides all the relevant information that they would need to advise the D.O.E. on any project, and in this particular case, the NEAC went through three deliberations, so three meetings because of early issues related to this project.”
Among the main concerns raised years ago was the potential impact on the local fly-fishing community. Mai mentioned that this concern has been considered since 2018. The meeting also reviewed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to ensure the project met all requirements. The Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) is available online, and Mai encourages everyone to download it to help authorities monitor the project. The ECP lists all the conditions for the project’s construction and includes the conceptual design. Mai also noted that the Cayo Rosario project isn’t the only one in a protected area to get the green light.
Anthony Mai
“There are private properties within protected areas, and the owners of those private properties could apply to the Department of Environment for environmental clearance for any development that he or she wants to do within a protected area. The caveat, however, is that the Government of Belize has the E.I.A. process through which we evaluate these projects, and we ensure that these projects, at the end of the day, if they are approved, have minimum impacts on the environment.”
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a global standard for evaluating the environmental effects of proposed projects. To ensure the Cayo Rosario project meets these standards, the team will take several steps: improve communication about mining permits, mangrove alteration permits, and construction applications for piers and other structures. They will conduct an inter-agency site visit to check the project’s progress and ensure it complies with the Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP). Joint monitoring will happen during all key phases of the project, and they will frequently request status reports from the project owner. The Department of the Environment’s San Pedro office will also conduct regular compliance inspections. Marion Ali for News Five.
