BARBADOS IS A VALUED hemispheric partner of the United States, and the commercial relationship between our countries is vibrant and growing.
The US is Barbados’ top trading partner, and total two-way goods trade during 2013 was US$508 million.
Despite the difficulties during the 2008 and 2009 global financial crisis, US goods imports from Barbados rebounded quickly and by 2013 had increased nearly 70 per cent from their low in 2009, totalling US$55 million in 2013.
Barbados is a beneficiary of the US Caribbean Basin Initiative, which aims to facilitate the economic development and export diversification of the Caribbean Basin economies by providing countries with duty-free access to the US market for most goods. Further, most of Barbados’ exports enter the US duty-free.
The US continues to be one of Barbados’ principal sources of tourist arrivals, with travellers from the US representing more than 20 per cent of arrivals in 2013.
As Barbados is currently in the process of scheduling its Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) commitments, we look forward to Barbados’ TFA notification, and eventual acceptance of the TFA, and we stand ready to support Barbados with the scheduling process where we can.
We applaud Barbados’ initiative to consolidate its sanitary and phytosanitary regulatory functions under a single government agency and to bring its plant and animal health and food safety systems in line with international standards. We look forward to learning about how these changes will affect the requirements for exporters shipping to Barbados.
Barbados has faced challenges with persistently high budget deficits, which will need to be addressed through a mixture of expenditure reduction and revenue collection.
We therefore encourage Barbados to pursue these needed reforms in a transparent manner and in consultation with the private sector. Barbados should use the opportunity provided by these reforms to streamline its tariff and tax system and to boost its economic competitiveness.
While we applaud Barbados’ continued progress integrating into the global economy, we notice that many of the issues identified during previous trade policy reviews have not been fully addressed.
Barbados reduced the number of products for which import licenses are required, but yet licenses are still required for a wide range of agricultural and industrial goods and often require approvals from multiple ministries. We encourage Barbados to consider ways to streamline its import permit processes.
There were no major changes to Barbados’ intellectual property rights legislation and we urge Barbados to review its legislation to make it compatible with World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties.
We look forward to working with the Government of Barbados bilaterally and through CARICOM to address intellectual property issues, particularly copyright related.
As was the case during the 2008 trade policy review, Barbados is not a party to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. We look forward to the results of the proposed reforms to Barbados’ government procurement regulations.
Liberalisation and globalisation of trade have provided opportunities for small economies to participate in the generation of increased trade that ultimately contributes to the growth and development of such economies.
The US therefore looks forward to further deepening our trade and economic partnerships with Barbados and the other members of CARICOM.
• Statement made in relation to Barbados’ trade policy review at the World Trade Organisation last week.
Office of United States Trade Representatives
