Caribbean leaders want President Donald Trump to come for a visit — and along with the invitation they also plan, “as soon as practically possible,” to try to get a meeting with his senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said Friday.
“We’re hoping we are successful in inviting President Trump to the region. It’s very important for him to pay some attention to the third border of the United States. Also to enter meaningful discussions as to how U.S. policies impact in the region, especially these smaller countries” in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, he said. “Many of us have open economies and we import up to 80% of what we consume primarily from the United States.”
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Browne said recent U.S. policy shifts, including the freezing of foreign aid, the withdrawal from the World Health Organization and other global commitments and Thursday’s rollback of immigration protections for over half a million Haitian migrants, have raised concerns among leaders of the 15- member Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM.
“Already you have what, so many gang members, hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, and if you end up with maybe another 200,000 criminals on the streets of Haiti, it will make the situation more complex,” Browne said. “So that is of serious concern for us, and we’re hoping that even in our subsequent engagements with Rubio and potentially with the President… we can ask him to reconsider the impact of such a decision on our Haiti.”
Regional leaders opened a three-day summit here in Barbados with no senior U.S. officials present, but Trump and his new foreign policies were unseen guests. As Europe made overtures to continue to support climate-change initiatives, Caribbean leaders discussed their relationship with the U.S. behind closed doors. Those talks took on added significance after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security delivered the first immigration blow to a member state, Haiti, by reducing Haitian migrants’ right to work and live legally in the U.S. by six months, until Aug. 3.
Browne said there is no exact date for the invitation to Trump. “These are aspirations, and we’re making every attempt now,” he said.
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Caribbean leaders are partoiculary concerned about Trump’s penchant for tariffs as well as on the halt in foreign aid.
While Antigua doesn’t benefit from U.S. aid, Brown said other countries in the Caribbean do, and the dismantling of the U.S Agency for International Development is already having a profound impact. — Story by
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