*What’s New*
Alicia Nicholls (Shridath Ramphal Centre, The UWI Cave Hill) and Robert Ready (Executive Director of the CCI) co-authored a policy paper on Canada-CARICOM trade in 2025. This paper makes a number of recommendations designed to revitalize the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
Canada and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have a long-standing relationship based on historical ties, shared values, development cooperation and people-to-people links. While CARICOM represents a small market for Canada, Canada is one of CARICOM’s major trading partners, with bilateral trade in goods reaching $2.4 billion CAD in 2019. Canada also has some significant investments in CARICOM countries, especially in the financial services, mining and tourism sectors.
It is becoming evident, however, that Canada has been losing its share of trade with the Caribbean and that CARICOM exports to Canada are flat or declining. In short, the Canada-CARICOM Trade and Investment relationship faces some challenges.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on both Canada’s and CARICOM’s economies, especially on sectors such as tourism, hospitality, transportation and manufacturing that rely heavily on trade and investment flows. The pandemic has also disrupted supply chains, reduced consumer demand, increased unemployment, worsened fiscal deficits, increased debt burdens, heightened social inequalities, threatened food security, strained health systems, hampered education outcomes, among other negative effects.
The private sector players are changing
In the past, the bilateral trade and investment relationship has been dominated by large Canadian investors in the financial services and natural resource sectors, as well as Canadian tourism. Recent years have seen the departure of many Canadian financial institutions and the withdrawal of Canada’s large resource firms from the Caribbean. Some new Canadian and Caribbean multinationals have emerged and along with new, and smaller, services and technology enterprises, these represent the new players in the trade and investment relationship.
Formal trade relationship is undeveloped
Although Canada and CARICOM have an existing Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (TECA) since 1979 that provides non-reciprocal duty-free access for most CARICOM exports to Canada under the CARIBCAN program, this arrangement does not cover services, investment nor does it address non-tariff barriers or regulatory issues that may hinder trade. Moreover, it is subject to periodic renewals and waivers from the World Trade Organization (WTO), which creates uncertainty for exporters and investors. Negotiations for a more ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) started in 2007 but stalled in 2014 due to divergent interests and expectations on both sides. Since then, there has been no formal mechanism to resume or advance the negotiations or address other trade-related matters.
CARICOM preference in Canadian market is eroding while it’s competitiveness is declining
As Canada signs FTAs with other countries and regions around the world, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union (EU), CARICOM’s preferential access to the Canadian market becomes less valuable and less secure. At the same time, many CARICOM countries face declining competitiveness in their traditional export products such as sugar, bananas, rum and textiles due to factors such as high production costs, low productivity, rigid regulatory frameworks, limited diversification and environmental vulnerabilities.
The Canada Caribbean Institute has co-sponsored two Panel Discussions on trade issues:
Optimizing Canada-CARICOM Trade Relationship – June 2023
Revitalizing Canada-CARICOM Trade and Investment – April 2021
Alicia Nicholls (Shridath Ramphal Centre, The UWI Cave Hill) and Robert Ready (Executive Director of the CCI) co-authored a policy paper on Canada-CARICOM trade in 2025. This paper makes a number of recommendations designed to revitalize the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
Reading and Resources:
Trade negotiations
CARICOM and Canada: Good Trading Partners?
A Canada-CARICOM “Trade not Aid Strategy”: Important and Achievable
Canada-Caribbean Community Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
CARICOM and Canada: Good Trading Partners?
Trade and Investment Promotion Agencies
Trade Commissioner Service – Canada
Trade Facilitation Office – Canada
Caribbean Export Development Agency – Caribbean
General Information on Trade and Investment
Canada’s Trade and Investment Negotiations
Caribbean Trade Law and Development – Trade law, development and policy through a Caribbean lens – a very useful resource focusing on developments in the Caribbean