BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (GIS) – Prime Minister of Barbados and chair of CARICOM, Mia Amor Mottley, has penned a letter to the president of the United States Donald Trump urging him to shield the region from the fines imposed on Chinese-made container ships that call on US ports.
Prime Minister Mottley made the disclosure while delivering the feature address at the official launch ceremony of the Courts Welches Superstore at W Plaza, Welches, St Thomas.
The prime mimister told the gathering that the strategy could have disastrous consequences for commerce not only in Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean but also for Florida.
“What we potentially face with the announced levy on ships made in China will have serious and deleterious consequences for the commerce not just for Barbados, not just for the Caribbean, but as I said to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
US Secretary of State Rubio’s meeting with regional prime ministers in Jamaica
“Florida, in a very real sense, is the engine of commerce of the Caribbean region. The Caribbean depends on a seven-day supply of food, a seven-day supply of vegetables, … of critical supplies, pieces of equipment, spare parts, all kinds of things,” Mottley stated.
The prime minister contended: “To have this disruption purely because of the intervention of a statutory or an executive order that will lead to an increased cost of supplies will hurt not just us on the receiving end, but will hurt those as well who are making money from the logistics in Florida. It is likely to lead to people looking for other routes that don’t carry the same prohibitive costs for movement of goods.”
Mottley said she is optimistic that president Trump would have a greater understanding about the region’s plight and that the letter written on behalf of the Caribbean Community would lead to “some kind of exemption for this region.”
During the evening’s proceedings, there were remarks from managing director of Unicomer Barbados, Trisha Tannis, who stressed that the new retail location marked the commencement of a strategic transformation toward fewer, larger, full-service retail stores offering a full suite of merchandise and other services.
Chief executive officer and chairman of the Unicomer Group, Mario Siman, applauded the prime minister for her leadership, adding:
“It is through this leadership that businesses, such as Courts, feel confident in expanding their footprint here, contributing to job creation and long-term economic stability.”
Vice-president and managing director Caribbean of the Unicomer Group, Felix Siman III, said achieving the Superstore “involved intensive collaboration across borders, combining our global wealth of retail expertise with the energy and talent of our Barbadian team.”
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