Kamla feels bond with returning Trump

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has expressed a political kinship with US president-elect Donald Trump as a "returning leader."

Trump won the US presidential election on November 5, defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris by an estimated 277-224 electoral votes.

In US presidential elections, the winning candidate must secure 270 electoral votes to be elected president.

Trump, 78, first served as president from 2016-2020.

He made history as the second former US president to be elected to office for a second non-consecutive term. The first was Grover Cleveland, president from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897.

Persad-Bissessar, who was prime minister from May 2010- September 2015, is aspiring to be re-elected in the next general election, which is constitutionally due by next August. Under the law, the deadline for the election is next November.

In a statement on November 6, Persad-Bissessar said, "It is widely held that leaders who return to service carry not only the experience of their past term but also a renewed commitment to their country’s future with fresh energy and clear purpose."

She added that Trump's victory was the result of a "coalition of interests that came together, united by his vision to restore conservative American values and ideals which have been under attack by promoters of extreme far left ideology."

Persad-Bissessar said Trump's victory also spoke to his inspiring resilience and commitment to the American people.

"He has survived assassination attempts, political persecution through the weaponisation of the justice and financial systems and years of personal attacks, but he never wavered in his love for the USA."

Persad-Bissessar extended best wishes to Trump, vice-president elect JD Vance and other members of his incoming administration.

UNC deputy leader David Lee said, "One thing I am sure about, we are in for some interesting times ahead as a country."

He hoped citizens noted that crime and the economy were the issues that helped Trump win the election.

Lee said it will be interesting to see how the incoming Trump administration deals with Venezuela, given Trump's previous criticism of that nation's president, Nicolas Maduro, and US sanctions against the country.

On the Dragon gas and Cocuina-Manakin projects, collaborations between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, Lee said, "A Trump presidency would have a great impact on the energy polices of Prime Minister Rowley and MP Stuart Young, where they are banking on the cross-border gas fields with Venezuela."

He claimed Young, who is Energy Minister, "might have to start back travelling more frequently now."

Last December, the government secured a a 30-year exploration and production licence for the Dragon field, which is estimated to hold 4.2 trillion cubic feet of gas, with a projected output of 185 million cubic feet per day.

This licence was obtained from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which falls under the Treasury Department, under the incumbent Biden Administration.

In July, the government obtained a 20-year licence from Venezuela for bpTT to exploit the Cocunia field on the Venezuela side of the unified one-trillion-cubic-feet Cocuina/Manakin field, of which bpTT already has an operatorship of the Manakin part, in TT waters.

Also in July, Shell announced its final investment decision on the Manatee field, which straddles the TT-Venezuela maritime border. Shell plans to bring gas production from Manatee online by 2027.

Lee said he would not be surprised if energy multinationals such as BP and Shell hold off on any further investments in Venezuela until they know Trump's policy towards Maduro's government.

UNC chairman Davendranath Tancoo said, "The American people have spoken."

Party deputy leader Dr Roodal Moonilal recalled that in March, Dr Rowley described St Lucian opposition leader Allan Chastanet as "Tropical Trump." Chastanet was a speaker at a UNC anti-crime town hall meeting that month.

He said, "Rowley has to congratulate the real McCoy."