Trump tremors! - CARICOM jittery over Washington’s lack of engagement with the region

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are being urged to again push for a meeting with United States President Donald Trump amid growing fears about the "unpredictable" nature of American policies and the diminishing of regional interests to Washington.

CARICOM-US relations will top this week's meeting of regional foreign ministers in The Bahamas, starting tomorrow, with reinvigorating relations with Canada also expected to be on the agenda.

A statement last Friday from CARICOM did not suggest anything about the possible request to meet with Trump, neither did it speak to the regional anxieties.

But a report of April 3 preparatory talks for this week's meeting has laid bare the fears threading throughout CARICOM about the state of relations with the Trump administration.

Although noting that the US "had been a strong and long-standing partner of the region", the report, obtained by The Sunday Gleaner, said that the CARICOM Secretariat representative "outlined several recent developments that raised questions about the future and nature of the relationship".

The CARICOM Secretariat team that participated in the meeting was led by Ambassador Colin Granderson, the assistant secretary-general, foreign and community relations. Jamaica's delegation was led by Alison Stone-Roofe, under secretary, bilateral and regional affairs, at the foreign ministry.

"The unpredictability surrounding the implications of the Trump administration's policy position of 'America first', which had resulted in adversarial immigration and trade policy decisions (and) its withdrawal from leadership on global matters" were among the concerns noted in the April 25 report.

Adding that there is a "reticence" on America's part to improve assistance to poor countries, the CARICOM Secretariat representative said that the developments "had caused uncertainty as to the future of the small advances" made in CARICOM-US relations under the previous Barack Obama administration.

In June 2016, the US Congress approved the United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act, but with little engagement under Trump on regional concerns like derisking, energy, and crime, the representative told the meeting that CARICOM should "review its approach in its engagement with the United States".

Request trump meeting

The foreign ministers are also being asked to approve another request for Trump to meet with CARICOM heads of government. But not even a response is assured for leaders in a region sometimes called America's 'third border'.

According to the report, the Trump administration did not respond to a previous request.

"Correspondence had been sent to President Trump and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicating CARICOM's readiness to engage, but no response was received. Another submission should be made," the report said.

While in The Bahamas, the foreign ministers are scheduled to meet Ambassador Kenneth Merten, the acting US principal deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs.

But another document obtained by The Sunday Gleaner said that the "US Government has not indicated any specific issues that it wishes to discuss" during the breakfast meeting to be hosted by Merten.

CARICOM as a group has had no political engagement with the Trump administration though there have been country-level talks, including February's visit by Tillerson to Jamaica.

Tillerson, who was dumped by Trump days later, told Prime Minister Andrew Holness that "Jamaica is our closest partner in this region".

That declaration may have been reward for controversial positions taken by Jamaica at the Organisation of American States over Venezuela last year and December's abstention at the United Nation over America recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

At July's meeting of CARICOM leaders in Jamaica, Holness will take over the chairmanship of the bloc for six months.

The US-CARICOM concerns and a Jamaica report recommending limiting its role in CARICOM if key reforms not done are set to dominate that meeting.

The US, a key trading partner for most regional states, had a trade surplus with CARICOM countries of US$4.17 billion in 2015.