Rubio promises to flag Caribbean concerns about US planned fines on Chinese ships

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 March 2025, 21:19 by Writer

United States (US) Secretary of State, Marco Rubio on Thursday promised to raise the Caribbean’s concerns that any Donald Trump administration plans to impose fines on Chinese-made ships could fuel a steep increase in the cost of food and other imports into the region.

“We’ve heard it throughout our visits here in the Caribbean, and we’re going to take it back and explain to those who are in charge of trade policy that there are some implications to applying it to certain nations who are partners and who are seeking to develop their economies in ways that I think serve the national interest of the United States, not to mention the national interest of our partners,” Mr Rubio told a news conference shared with Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali at State House, Main Street, Georgetown.

Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Private Sector Organisation (CPSO), Patrick Antoine, has said if the US Trade Representative goes ahead with fines of a minimum of US$1.5 million per trip to US ports, the region could suffer from an increase in inflation by between 15% and 30%. He said the cost of food, raw materials, equipment, and spares would increase due to higher shipping costs. “We know that if the measure is implemented in its present form, it will cause tremendous spikes in the cost of freight for virtually every sector in CARICOM. There is no sector in CARICOM that will be left unscathed from the measure,” Dr Antoine told Demerara Waves Online News.

But the US Secretary of State was careful not to give a firm commitment in addressing the Caribbean’s concerns because trade is not his portfolio. He, however, promised to raise the issue across various US government players but ultimately the decision depends on President Trump. “I can’t make a commitment to those exempt, because that’s not something we handle at the Department of State. What I can commit to is that I will most certainly raise this issue as a recurring issue in multiple places, that it would have a real, you know, detrimental effect on economic development,” he said.

The CPSO, which has observer status in meetings with CARICOM leaders and ministers, made known its position ahead of the US Secretary of State’s meeting on Wednesday with several CARICOM leaders in Jamaica before travelling to Guyana and Suriname where he is meeting separately with the leaders of those countries.

At the same time, he said US farmers, ranchers, processors, and suppliers all benefit substantially from $10.7 billion worth of trade with CARICOM, which relies on China-built short-sea vessels, and the region exports US$7.5 billion. “The point about the trade surplus is that any measure that impacts our ability to move products efficiently, imports and exports, will affect their trade surplus,” he said. He said the US$7.5 billion worth of exports includes sale of Guyana’s crude to the US. “A lot of the vessels that carry oil, gas and methanol are vessels that are China-built so even the new industries that we’ve moved into, industries that the US have an interest in the context of energy security will be impacted,” he said.

Dr Antoine said the Caribbean was appealing to the US not to fine China-built short-sea ships serving the region while the US builds up its shipbuilding capacity over the next three or four years. “We decided to ask the United States to reconsider the measures in the context of small states, largely because there was no alternative to using these specially built China-originated vessels for short-sea shipping in CARICOM as the US shipping capacity is nowhere ready to supply these vessels. We are sure about that because we have checked,” he said.

In Georgetown, the US Secretary of State said, the US administration was keen on getting back into the shipbuilding industry rather than rely on vessels made in China. He argued that it would be “dangerous to have one country in the world building all the ships”. He said the US wanted to develop alternatives to Chinese-made ships. “I’m the first one to admit that the United States made a terrible mistake when we were de-industrialized and we allowed all these industries to leave our country and go to other places,” he said.

“I assure you that, and we don’t want a war. But I mean, they’re not going to build ships for us if we get in trouble, right? So, we need to have alternatives to Chinese and we’re trying to create a market and a demand for alternatives to Chinese shipping, construction, and now we’re paying the consequences, but we have to fix it, Mr. President.”

The CPSO Executive Director said an imposition of fines ranging from US$1.5 million to US$3.5 million per voyage on Chinese vessels leaving and docking at American ports would result in “significant costs” in the movement of shipping containers. He said there would be a “pass-through effect” in the prices of wheat and corn that are processed into flour and animal feed. “When we look at this, we are just absolutely amazed at all of the myriad ways in which this thing (fines) will manifest itself,” he said,

Dr Antoine said the CPSO was working with US businesses that have “massive” interest in doing business with the Caribbean, even as they were worried that the region might source wheat from Brazil and Argentina and corn from Mexico.

He said the regional private sector was ready to take decisive action to increase food production rather than being vulnerable to extra-regional policies.