US-China tariff war not affecting Jamaica yet

Industry Minister Senator Aubyn Hill says Jamaica is not immediately affected by the ongoing tariff struggle between the US and China.

He was responding to questions regarding the new tariff measures implemented by the US during Wednesday's post-Cabinet press briefing held at Jamaica House. President Donald Trump recently announced a sweeping set of new tariffs, including a 10 per cent baseline tariff on nearly all imports entering the US, and reciprocal tariffs on various countries.

On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for more than 75 trading partners except China, which will see a 125 per cent hike on levies on products entering the US. Hill said that while Jamaica is not the target of either of the economic powerhouses "we have to be very aware and nimble". He noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is reviewing the necessary documentation to ascertain whether the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) will still apply. Under the CBI, products from most Caribbean countries enter the US under preferential arrangements.

"The CBI, we are not clear yet; we don't have the documentation that tells us yes the CBI is going to continue ... or no, CBI has gone away and across the board the 10 per cent tariff [will apply]," he said.

"If that happens, we then have to say 'who else is in the 10 per cent category'... and for those in that 10 per cent category, do they sell the same stuff that we sell to the United States? Some may, but they may be located in Africa or Asia; we then have clearly a competitive advantage based on geographic location," Hill reasoned. He expressed confidence in Jamaica's ability to overcome any challenges in the event the CBI will no longer be in place for Caribbean countries.

"We have been able to overcome the pandemic; we didn't raise taxes; we didn't borrow any more money to do it and, in fact, we've had, through that entire period of time, 10 consecutive budgets without any raising of taxes," Hill said.