Editorial | Be open about US-Jamaica talks

The timing of last weekend’s telephone discussion between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – days after the United States named Jamaica among 75 countries for which it has suspended the processing of immigrant visas – is unlikely coincidental.

The greater likelihood is that the Holness-Rubio talks were a follow-up to, and ought to be read as one with the discussions in Kingston last month between Dr Holness and some of his key advisers, and top officials in the US Defence and Homeland Security Departments. Regional security, apparently, was the top issue on their agenda.

In all probability Jamaica is attempting to strike a deal that would insulate it from the more extreme of President Donald Trump’s immigration, trade and security policies. Which would be a good thing in the face of heightened global uncertainty and increasing geopolitical volatility in the Western Hemisphere.

And as prime minister Holness argued, after the US bombed Venezuela and controversially extracted their president Nicolás Maduro to stand trial in America, his job “is to keep Jamaica safe, and not steer it into waters into which we do not have to go”.

However, it is not unreasonable to ask about what Jamaica has committed, or is willing to commit, for any special consideration; the broader framework, if any, within which the undertakings would fit; and what are the guarantees that they will be adhered to.

In that regard, Prime Minister Holness and his government should open a full and frank conversation with Jamaicans on the state of global affairs; the choices that confront Jamaica and its Caribbean Community (CARICOM); what are the administration’s preferred direction; and why.

CLEAR CONSENSUS

In other words, the government should seek a clear consensus on its decisions after the options have been fully aired.

The background to the situation in which region finds itself is important.

The year since the mercurial Mr Trump reoccupied the White House, after a four-year gap between his presidencies, has been tumultuous. He unilaterally jacked-up duties on imports to America, including from countries with which the United States has free trade agreements. The US has practically rendered World Trade Organisations (WTO) redundant.

Moreover, Mr Trump’s pursuit of American unilateralism and Great Power politics, allied with his assaults on the institutions of global governance which emerged post World War II, is hastening the collapse of an international order where small countries felt they enjoyed a modicum of protection.There is no clear replacement for the undermined system.

Instead, with respect to Latin America and the Caribbean Mr Trump has reasserted the Monroe Doctrine, with a more robust interpretation of US hegemony in the hemisphere. This is part of the backdrop against which Mr Trump ordered the US military to blow-up alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the southern Caribbean Sea, captured Mr Maduro and has threatened regime change in Cuba.

Said a US national security strategy (NSS) document the White House issued in December: “The United States must be pre-eminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition of our security and prosperity — a condition that allows us to assert ourselves confidently where and when we need to in the region.

“The terms of our alliances, and the terms upon which we provide any kind of aid, must be contingent on winding down adversarial outside influence — from control of military installations, ports, and key infrastructure to the purchase of strategic assets broadly defined.”

PRIMARY STRATEGIC ADVERSARY

That document identifies China as America’s primary strategic adversary globally. Even before the NSS, the Trump administration made clear it wished to dislodge China from the region.

There are implications for Jamaica. A Chinese firm is a partner in the company that operates Kingston’s transshipment port. Chinese entities also own an alumina refinery (currently mothballed), sugar factories and, among other things, a tolled highway. Beijing has also loaned Kingston hundreds of millions of dollars to build infrastructure.

These factors help to complicate the prism through which the recent US/Jamaica talks, including Saturday’s between Prime Holness and Mr Rubio, have to be viewed, including America’s declared support for the island’s post-hurricane reconstruction efforts.

Jamaica’s read out of the prime minister’s discussions with the secretary of state said Mr Rubio “reaffirmed the United States’ willingness to support Jamaica’s reconstruction and resilience efforts through continued cooperation and partnership, including private sector participation”.

The State Department’s brief report confirmed Mr Rubio’s support of the US’ ongoing support for the recovery and that he praised Dr Holness’ “leadership as a strong and reliable security partner”.

While the Holness administration, like the US, questioned Mr Maduro’s legitimacy, Kingston sided with CARICOM against military intervention, the community’s insistence that the Caribbean be maintained as a zone of peace.

These principles have been stressed by Mr Trump’s assertion of US power in the region, which has caused tensions in CARICOM. Trinidad and Tobago’s new government has backed Mr Trump’s posture.

The issues that Jamaica and the Caribbean now face are not easily resolved. And in Jamaica’s case, they are made more complex by the impact of Hurricane Melissa, whose direct cost was over US$8.6 million or more than 40 per cent of GDP.

Notwithstanding, the region is likely to find that in the long run the safer bet is confronting the issues as a whole, rather than separately.