Part 2

MELISSA DOUGHTY

Tariffs, annexation, independence and sovereignty have all become buzzwords around US president Donald Trump’s administration. The impacts of his foreign policies are being felt globally and regionally. What do these decisions mean for people of the region and how best could they be addressed?

Newsday took an in-depth look at some of these issues particularly in the context of most Caribbean countries being former colonies. This two-part series shares the voices and ideas of academics, a former minister and the chair of the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and  Tobago. Part 1 was published on April 8.

Emancipation Support Committee (ESCTT) chair Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada believes US President Donald Trump’s foreign policies present a unique opportunity to deepen trade with countries on the African continent or South America.

Uzoma-Wadada shared her thoughts on the changing face of US foreign-policy.

Newsday spoke to Uzoma-Wadada and the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) international relations lecturer Dr Georgina Chami on what these developments mean for TT and the region.

Uzoma-Wadada’s interview came shortly on the heels of Trump’s tariff announcement which saw the US introduce a ten per cent reciprocal tariff on TT’s manufactured goods.

“We see what is happening in the US is what we have been watching, which is a more powerful emergence of white supremacy.

[caption id="attachment_1148501" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Farmers break cocoa pods inside the conservation zone of the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on October 23, 2023. Farmers, buyers and others say cocoa heads from deforested areas of the protected reserve to companies that supply some of the world’s biggest chocolate makers - AP Photo[/caption]

“We think President Trump symbolises that in his approach and attitude. It could be based on their own fears about the conversations that are taking place in the world. The US president is probably trying to cement his own power in the way he feels that it can be done, from his perspective of the world.”

These developments were also happening at the start of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, (running from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2034) and while the reparations movement was gaining world-wide momentum, she said.

“I don’t want us to watch the geopolitics taking place from the European and white supremacy perspective. We need to look at what is happening in the non-white world.”

Many materials needed to make Europe and western countries as powerful as they are came from the continent, she added.

“Exploitation of Africa has continued to be the foundation on which they built their wealth.”

Uzoma-Wadada said there were now “revolutionary” responses coming out of Africa and complete decolonisation processes taking place there.

“It is happening at a time where Africans are also showing their strength,” she said.

That was why in this Second International Decade for People of African Descent the committee