Shaw promises trade protection

MINISTER OF Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw yesterday served notice that he would be taking steps to close the trade loopholes that Jamaica’s trading partners have been abusing to dump goods into the country to the detriment of the local manufacturing sector.

“What has been called the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), you know who has been the single market over the years? Jamaica,” he told business operators following a tour of Lithographic Printers Limited in downtown Kingston yesterday.

The former finance minister accused Jamaica’s CARICOM partners specifically of abusing the Rules of Origin guidelines, as well those relating to the Common External Tariff (CET).

“If we are to be very blunt, other countries in the region have abused the CARICOM privileges, in some cases, in extreme ways, to the disadvantage of manufacturers in Jamaica and ... at the agricultural end as well,” he charged, without naming any countries.

“The CET under CARICOM arrangements requires that there is ... to be significant value that is added in the region ... . If you are importing raw materials from third markets, you are to add a minimum level of value in your member country,” Shaw said. “In a lot of cases, this has not been done, and a lot of companies in the region have been abusing it and sending those products into Jamaica duty-free and benefiting from it,” he noted.