The CARICOM trade imbalance — Jamaica/T&T

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Recently, there have been a number of rash and, in some instances, derogatory letters, describing Jamaica's perceived relationship with Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). Some were whimsical and others simply vacuous. Generally, they demonstrate a lack of understanding regarding the consequences that would result if Jamaica were to demit membership of Caricom, apart from the forfeiture of the considerable amount of investment in time and money related to developing the regional union that is Caricom. The current difficulties are common when trying to meld together disparate entities as evident with other similar groups, the principal one being the European Union (EU), on whose architecture the Caribbean Community was initially structured based on the Treaty of Rome 1957.