Elizabeth Morgan | With Brexit, trade within Commonwealth now a priority

April is the month of summits. With the Summit of the Americas having ended on April 14, national leaders from CARICOM, including Jamaica, and Canada are in London to participate in the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in London and Windsor from April 16-20. The meeting will follow the success of the festive Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, which returned the Commonwealth to the consciousness of its 53 member states.

With Brexit, Britain, as host, is aiming to focus on promoting intra-Commonwealth trade. Many in the leave/not to leave campaign in the 2016 referendum recalled the existence of the Commonwealth and its economic potential. They posited that it would be easier to negotiate trade and investment agreements with members of the Commonwealth family and that a trade bloc could even be established. Australia, Canada and New Zealand have rallied to support Britain as the country recrafts its international trade policy.

Prior to its 1973 European Community (EC) membership, Britain traded with Commonwealth countries under the 1932 Commonwealth Scheme of Preferences and the 1951 Commonwealth Sugar Agreement. This economic alliance with the Commonwealth dissolved as Britain integrated with the EC, its natural trading partners. On the economic front, the Commonwealth virtually receded into obscurity thereafter.

Shifting trade focus

The current Commonwealth trade focus became operational with the convening of the first meeting of Commonwealth trade ministers in London in March 2017. Jamaica attended.

There is still the view in Britain and the Commonwealth Secretariat that there is the potential for further trade and investment expansion within the Commonwealth. Many trade analysts, however, view this claim with scepticism, believing that Britain is seeing the Commonwealth as an available and convenient port in a storm.

For Jamaica, trade with other Commonwealth countries includes those in CARICOM, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, India and Ghana. Trade with other Commonwealth countries is not significant, and there has been no targeted effort to promote trade and investment. The relationship with Commonwealth countries through the African, Caribbean and Pacific grouping has also not increased trade among the countries. The distance between the Commonwealth countries has posed a challenge to trade.

Currently, with CARIFORUM, work is in progress to roll over the Economic Partnership Agreement provisions to secure the trade preferences for access to the UK market when it leaves the EU. The biennial meeting of the UK-Caribbean Forum should be held this year, and Britain should be the host.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a declaration on the Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment will be on the table. The declaration should be establishing a framework for continuing discussions within the Commonwealth over the next two years under the chairmanship of Britain.

There has actually been no in-depth discussion on promoting intra-Commonwealth trade in Jamaica and in the Caribbean, bearing in mind that not all CARICOM countries are members of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Secretariat did make a presentation on its 2015 trade study at a forum in Jamaica in 2016.

Following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Jamaica needs to give serious thought to whether there are real economic benefits to be gained from promoting trade and investment within the Commonwealth, or whether the country would be supporting a myth that the Commonwealth can be resurrected as an economic force.

- Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.