Barbados and other CARICOM paint producers are set to receive regional tariff protection against external competitors, following a coordinated move led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds.
Speaking to the Weekend Nation last week, Symmonds revealed that CARICOM has agreed to implement a 35 per cent Common External Tariff (CET) on paints and coatings imported from outside the region. The decision, he said, was taken in response to mounting evidence that foreign producers, particularly from the United States, were engaging in sustained discounting and unfair pricing practices that placed regional manufacturers at a significant disadvantage.
“We commissioned a report through the Caribbean Private Sector Organisation, which provided evidence of base prices being discounted by more than 30 per cent by some of these importers. Additionally, we saw that freight-on-board prices to CARICOM were significantly lower than those offered to other major US export destinations. This created a completely distorted playing field for local manufacturers.”
He stressed that the action taken by CARICOM was both legally sound and economically necessary, citing the importance of the paint and coatings industry to the regional manufacturing sector.
“Across the Caribbean Community, the industry directly and indirectly supports approximately 3 000 jobs. Here in Barbados, our manufacturing base may be modest, but paints and coatings are among the few things we still produce competitively,” he noted.
Under Symmonds’ chairmanship, regional ministers responsible for foreign trade reached consensus to impose the CET adjustment as a protective mechanism. He described the measure as a deliberate act of solidarity aimed at safeguarding a vital sector in the face of pricing practices that were, in his view, “tantamount to economic sabotage”.
No violations
In some member states – particularly in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), – paint and coating manufacturing ranks among the top three contributors to local industrial output. Symmonds warned that without such tariff protections, these industries risked being obliterated.
The decision, he assured, conforms with the rules of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) and respects the region’s commitments under CARICOM’s trade framework.
“There will be no violations of the WTO’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle,” he said. “This CET increase applies equally to all non-CARICOM exporters – whether from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India, or anywhere else. It’s not targeted, it is a defensive economic measure taken in line with our rights.”
Symmonds also said the move does not signal a closed-door policy on foreign investment.
“We are absolutely open to companies that want to invest in manufacturing within CARICOM. There is nothing barring external partners from coming in and collaborating with regional firms. But what we cannot allow is a race to the bottom where predatory pricing guts our ability to produce anything of our own.”
He reiterated his commitment to fostering a manufacturing environment that is competitive, fair, and sustainable.
“This is not about isolation. It is about defending the integrity of our local industries so that they can innovate, grow, and employ our people.”
The new tariff structure is expected to be implemented within the coming quarter, pending formal notification through CARICOM’s Secretariat. Symmonds said ongoing monitoring mechanisms will evaluate the impact of the adjustment and assess any continuing threats.
The move is expected to level the playing field for companies such as Berger Paints in Jamaica, Harris Paints in Barbados and other smaller OECS manufacturers.
“It’s a good day for Caribbean manufacturers,” Symmonds said. “We are finally taking steps not just to speak about industrial development but to defend it with meaningful policy.”
(CLM)
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