The New Geography of Brazil-Caribbean Economic Cooperation

• Author: Tanisha Tingle-Smith
• Pages: 175-185

13

THE NEW GEOGRAPHY OF

BRAZILCARIBBEAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Tanisha Tingle-Smith

Introduction

Brazil is steadily emerging as a dominant

global middle power. Over the last decade,

the oft-labelled ‘country of the future’ has

enjoyed a more prominent role in the world

economy and on political platforms. Brazil

has assiduously expanded its diplomatic

and economic reach worldwide, particularly

among the Global South. Brasilia’s enlarging

international presence is apparent in the wider

Caribbean region where it now heads the UN

peacekeeping operation in Haiti. Brazil’s

Caribbean inroads extend to the economic

sphere as well. Brazil’s trade with the Caribbean

has prospered in recent years, reaching US$2.4

billion in 2005, roughly doubling year-

over-year.1 The signif‌icance of such trade

expansion in the Caribbean sub-region signals

Brazil’s growing competitive strength and its

ability to penetrate new markets, especially

in the Caribbean Basin. This paper examines

CARICOM-Brazil relations and describes

potential opportunities for trade, given the

context and constraints under which Brazil

and CARICOM operate.

Caribbean and Brazil Trade

Historically, CARICOM trade is based

on a system of preferential market access

arrangements, where its expor ts, primarily

agricultural goods – sugar, banana, and

rum – found “ready markets.”2 The region’s

international trade was dependent on

protocols, such as the Lomé Convention,

which offered preferential prices and quota

guarantees for entry into the European market;

the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), which

ensured preferences for a range of goods into

the United States; and the Canada Trade

Agreement (CARIBCAN), which offered

favourable access to the Canadian market.

Times are changing though, and the demise

of traditional trade preference markets has

forced the Caribbean to grapple with the

pressing exigencies of reciprocal free trade.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM),

confronted by a changing global political

economy, has embarked on the Caribbean

Single Market and Economy (CSME). The

CSME endeavours to harmonise and deepen

economic cooperation among the participating

Member States, moving from a common

market to a single market, so as to better

maximise their international competitiveness

in the new trading order.

Under the CSME strategy, building

non-traditional trade linkages is a foremost

economic imperative. Europe and North

America, especially the United States, will

likely remain CARICOM’s leading trade

partners for the foreseeable future. However,

leveraging South-South coalition may generate

new trade openings for the region. Brazil’s

economic ascendancy in this context presents

the Caribbean with a venue for broader intra-

regional trade, providing a gateway to Latin

America’s largest market economy and to South

America’s largest trading bloc, the Southern