Emancipation Support Committee chair: Deeper African trade might be answer 

PART 2

Tariffs, annexation, independence and sovereignty have all become buzzwords around US president Donald Trump’s administration. The impacts of his foreign policies are being felt globally and regionally. What do these decisions mean for people of the region and how best could they be addressed?

Newsday took an in-depth look at some of these issues particularly in the context of most Caribbean countries being former colonies. This two-part series shares the voices and ideas of academics, a former minister and the chair of the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and  Tobago. Part 1 was published on April 8.

EMANCIPATION Support Committee (ESCTT) chair Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada believes US President Donald Trump’s foreign policies present a unique opportunity to deepen trade with countries on the African continent or South America.

Uzoma-Wadada shared her thoughts on the changing face of US foreign-policy.

Newsday spoke to Uzoma-Wadada and the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) international relations lecturer Dr Georgina Chami on what these developments mean for TT and the region.

Uzoma-Wadada’s interview came shortly on the heels of Trump’s tariff announcement which saw the US introduce a ten per cent reciprocal tariff on TT’s manufactured goods.

“We see what is happening in the US is what we have been watching, which is a more powerful emergence of white supremacy.

“We think President Trump symbolises that in his approach and attitude. It could be based on their own fears about the conversations that are taking place in the world. The US president is probably trying to cement his own power in the way he feels that it can be done, from his perspective of the world.”

These developments were also happening at the start of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, (running from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2034) and while the reparations movement was gaining world-wide momentum, she said.

“I don’t want us to watch the geopolitics taking place from the European and white supremacy perspective. We need to look at what is happening in the non-white world.”

Many materials needed to make Europe and western countries as powerful as they are came from the continent, she added.

“Exploitation of Africa has continued to be the foundation on which they built their wealth.”

Uzoma-Wadada said there were now “revolutionary” responses coming out of Africa and complete decolonisation processes taking place there.

“It is happening at a time where Africans are also showing their strength,” she said.

That was why in this Second International Decade for People of African Descent the committee planned to call on the government to be more proactive and do better, she said.

“The government did not do very well in the first decade but the UN still saw it necessary and agreed to a second decade.”

Part of that movement would be to encourage regional leaders to stop thinking that the world would “fall apart” without the US.

Many African countries were telling the US that they could live without them and possibly regional leaders needed to follow, she said.

Eventually the US would feel negative effects from its decisions as the country’s wealth was built on the exploitation of others, Uzoma-Wadada added.

Caribbean leaders have equally spoken strongly against Trump’s measures. Former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley said he would ensure TT’s sovereignty was respected by all when the US threatened visa restrictions against governments using Cuba’s medical programme. Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley was also prepared to lose her US visa over the issue, media reported in March.

Mottley also spoke as Caricom’s chair about the dangers of a looming tariff war to Caribbean economies and urged the region’s countries to build ties with Africa, Central and Latin America.

Uzoma-Wadada said, “You have a whole continent of 52 countries in Africa with all the resources that the world needs.”

Deeper trade discussions would start with the first in-person meeting between the African Union and Caricom on September 7, she added.

“There is a move to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Caricom and the African Union.”

But not only were there African countries but also countries on the South-American continent with which to deepen trade ties.

She said TT had to be prepared to sever relationships that were not in its best interest and develop relationships that would ultimately benefit instead.

One way to further deepen ties with the African continent would be through direct air travel, a suggestion offered by late prime minister Patrick Manning

She spoke to the discussion raised by Manning about direct air travel between TT and the African continent.

She asked, “Why can’t we? This is part of the whole decolonisation process which is what the Decade for People of African Descent is all about. The world has been organised to ensure that everything that we do is of less benefit to us than it is to Europeans.

“So once you are travelling you must pass there.”

She referenced TT nationals now needing visas to go to the UK and added that these things should propel people to work diligently to ensure there is direct travel to Africa.

“TT, at one point, used to be at the forefront of these Pan Africanist agendas and these things. We always had the courage to depart from the norm. We were always strong in that way and I think we should take up some of that and make these direct links.”

In 2023, it was announced that TT was seeking to strengthen trade ties with the West African country, Ghana.

TT nationals had to be open to people from the continent and Far East, Uzoma-Wadada added.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry was developing linkages with countries in South America and the ESCTT hosted the annual international trade and investment symposium which helped to encourage trade with South America as well, she said.

“Mr Trump, and fortunately so, is forcing us to stand up and take a look at whether we are willing to subscribe to this colonial concept of development or sit and really reflect on what pathway we can take that is beneficial to ourselves and our people.

“It forces us to start to rethink what real development is and how what is taking place now benefits us.”

Asked if Trump’s policies would affect the movement for reparations, she said he couldn’t do that.

“It is on its way,” she added.

Like former foreign affairs minister Winston Dookeran, Uzoma-Wadada said Trump would only be in office for four years and even if he tried to extend it the US population would only allow so much.

“I think it is a time for us to pay attention and realise that the colonial state in which we continue to live and dwell, we still live under a Westminster system of government, and the kind of challenges it throws up.

“Decolonisation and removal of all of these legacies of colonialism and enslavement should be the focus of Caricom countries.”

She added there were still colonies in the region and economies still dominated by Europeans in a way that denied locals any significant upward mobility. Uzoma-Wadada said there was still some of this in TT but it was not as bad.

“We need to find a development paradigm that caters to all in spirit and truth and not just in words.

“The world will continue with or without the US. There will be challenges because certain things you already have in place will have to change, you will have to do things differently, develop new relationships, but I am absolutely, 100 per cent certain it can be done,” she said.

Chami does not necessarily believe the sovereignty or independence of countries within the region was under threat given Trump’s statements about annexing Greenland or referring to Canada as the 51st state, but the region should be alert in its engagement with the US and other countries.

“According to international law, states must respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a state. But it must be recognised that the enforcement of international legal principles has always presented formidable challenges in light of the highly-decentralised nature of the international system,” she said in e-mailed responses to Newsday.

Chami said a collective response was always expedient in light of the changing geopolitical landscape when asked how the region should navigate this.

“The region must hold one common position and share a common outlook and perspective on matters critical to its sustainability. However, there are times when the interests of member states within the Caricom region will diverge thus making consensus building very challenging.”

In the first part of this article, UWI historian Dr Jerome Teelucksingh floated the idea of a Caribbean currency and Chami said while a unified monetary authority and single currency for Caricom offers significant advantages such as increased investment, expanded trade, improved prices for goods and services and smoother movement of people for tourism and business, people had to be mindful of the existing disparities in currencies.

“Also, this idea of a common currency is looked at sceptically by Caricom countries who still cling or hold steadfast to the notion of sovereignty.”

Whether Trump will remain a friend of the Caribbean region largely depends on the political and economic dynamics between the US and Caribbean nations, as well as how US foreign policy evolves under the Trump administration, she said.

Chami added this friendship will continue to exist based on the securing of interests by the US, when asked if it was a matter of waiting out Trump’s four years.

But like others interviewed for this article, Chami thinks the reshaping geopolitical landscape gives TT and the region space and time to develop common agendas and alliances. This could afford the country and Caribbean protection of their interest and help build capacity while aiding in regional security and development.

Read PART 1 here.