Business leader on US election: Trump could kill Dragon gas

One business leader believes a win by Republican presidential candidate Donald J Trump in today’s US presidential election could jeopardise TT’s Dragon gas deal with Venezuela.

President of the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers Vivek Charran told Newsday a win by Trump could also create further inflationary pressure for this country. He was one of two business leaders commenting on the outcomes of a win by either candidate for the TT and the region ahead of today’s election.

He said a win by either candidate would mostly affect this country in terms of American foreign policy.

Using Trump as an example, Charran said the candidate’s position was clear about raising tariffs, particularly on Chinese goods and services.

“When you look at a lot of the import trade, in retail items, from America to TT, a lot of the items aren’t made in America.” This country could face inflationary pressure on all goods imported into America from the Far East, which would result in a concomitant price increase, Charran said.

“Given that we find it very difficult to obtain US dollars already, then that would make the basket of goods that we can purchase with our very scarce forex resources less than it was before.”

Charran said it was also important to look at foreign policy and how a Trump-led government would view key people or countries in the region.

Charran cited Venezuela and the bubbling Dragon gas deal.

“When we look at Venezuela, I don’t think if Trump wins, the American government and the Venezuelan government are going to see eye to eye. “Is that then going to impact whatever arrangements we have already in place when it comes to the Dragon Field and so on?”

Charran said this would affect TT and its future outlook. Trump also had a strong anti-immigrant stance and TT needed to ask itself what that would mean for people applying for visas, Charran said.

He added that a Trump win might not only mean changes for visa requirements but also alter views on immigration as he was particularly concerned about Latin American people entering the US.

Charran said TT had an influx of migrants from Cuba and Venezuela and a Trump win could affect how this country deals with that.

“We already have certain things in place with America. They have assisted us greatly with issues of crime and so on and this would have been over the last five years with the Biden administration.

“Would these things still be in place in terms of co-operation on issues of national security and so on?” Charran said the world has seen a Trump presidency and administration before.

“We did make some ground, particularly with Dragon gas, and Biden did roll back some of the protectionist tariffs with some of the eastern countries, so we have not had that issue with inflationary pressures for the past five years.

“We have not had that drastic increase in consumer items being imported from America. Who takes the helm and the decisions they make particularly with regard to foreign trade, how is that going to impact us here in TT, that is just left to be seen,” he added.

President of the Greater San Fernando Area Chamber of Commerce Kiran Singh said the US election was very important for the business community.

He said the Republicans and Democrats were fighting an equal race to run the White House. Singh said the key policies of concern to the chamber were immigration, trade, how the US treats the region and agreements already in place.

“We have the saying: ‘If the US sneezes, we catch the cold,’ and we are very mindful of where the election goes.” He said while Trump was pro-business, his immigration policies were somewhat “rigorous in nature” and may not favour immigrant populations and people interested in expansionary trade in the US. And while Harris had favourable positions about immigration, her foreign policy was linked to how the democratic party felt about countries on the eastern side of the world, Singh said.

The US remained TT’s largest trading partner and TT would want to ensure that whatever policies were rolled out, it favoured this country, he added.

Singh said the chamber would be watching the election very closely to see its outcome.

He added that TT’s energy sector was not as vibrant as it once was and the chamber would want to see amendments to travel advisories against TT, no matter the winner.

“The alerts they have about travelling to TT, where they tell tourists and business people they should exercise more caution in travelling to this country, we hope they will ease those restrictions.

“We know that crime has TT in a precarious position but we would not want to be blacklisted in terms of a tourist destination, whether it is for business or pleasure.”

Singh said he hoped TT’s strong diplomatic ties with the US continue no matter who wins.

Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne said in a statement on Monday that given the longstanding and productive relationship the country maintained with the US, the ministry monitored the build-up to the 2024 presidential election, inclusive of positions espoused by the two main candidates.

“The results will be profoundly consequential to the people of this hemisphere and across the world.

“Best wishes to the US for a free, fair and safe election in the best spirit of democracy and we look forward to working with the winning team on all matters of mutual interest in 2025 and beyond,” he said.