Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 21/12/2025 10:07

Steering Trinidad and Tobago to subservience?

"Right now, there is only one country in the world that can (protect and defend TT)," Kamla Persad-Bissessar told UNC supporters at the party's Christmas Supper at the Diplomatic Centre on December 18. It was the closest that the PM has come to declaring her intentions regarding the US, laying out her strategy for future US-TT relations at a private event and not in Parliament, where such declarations should properly be aired. That US "partnership," as she described it, demands public explanation. The most precious asset that a politician can offer to the electorate is trust. Since news broke about the installation of military-grade radar at Crown Point in Tobago, Mrs Persad-Bissessar has been wantonly squandering the trust that won her an overwhelming majority in the 2025 general election. The radar's installation was first described as road works. The device was then credited with the seizure of $171 million worth of marijuana in the Caroni Swamp, a claim since discredited by its manufacturer. Confronted by this, the PM chose to dismiss the New York Times as a "foreign newspaper" and its conversation with manufacturer Northrop Grumman as an "anonymous source." The blockade of all oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela? "Those are issues for the Trump administration and for the US." Her key warning to her closest supporters? Step carefully to ensure that you keep your US visas. Act sensibly to ensure that the 350,000 TT nationals with US visas don't end up having them revoked. While foreign relations with the US under the Trump administration are like playing hopscotch in a minefield, small nations like TT must develop coherent, considered and effective diplomatic responses. This is not a time for formulating foreign policy on the fly, or worse, by vaps. Mrs Persad-Bissessar is sensible to be respectful of the military might that Mr Trump has deployed in the Caribbean. What's not so clear is the value of unequivocally dismissing the value of cross-border relations with Venezuela, making a bonfire of decades of regional leadership and cooperation with Caricom neighbours, cheering on strikes on suspected drug boats and the murder of alleged drug smugglers by the dozens, while appearing to bend the knee to US hegemony and an imperialistic military presence on our doorstep. If TT is open for business with the world, it should do so as a sovereign nation and not as a vassal of the US. TT is perfectly capable of crafting foreign policy positions that acknowledge the US as a strong defence ally while maintaining relationships with Caricom and other trading partners, including China. It has done so effectively in the past. Our way or the highway is the implied position of the US under the leadership of President Trump. TT should be careful before setting off down that rocky and uncertain road. The post Steering Trinidad and Tobago to subservience? appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.