{"id":357032,"date":"2026-02-18T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=357032"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:01:05","slug":"commentary-a-whats-next-moment-for-caricom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/commentary-a-whats-next-moment-for-caricom\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: A \u201cwhat\u2019s next?\u201d moment for CARICOM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo courtesy of the CARICOM Secretariat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), comprising 14 sovereign member states, the \u201cTrump Corollary\u201d to the Monroe Doctrine has elicited two broad foreign policy reactions. For most of these small states, there is growing concern about how its operationalization is impacting their respective interests. For some others, not so much.<\/p>\n

In recent months, heightened debate over these duelling perspectives has underscored a shift in how these states define their interests in relation to one another.<\/p>\n

One camp of states is still highly invested in the traditional foreign policy conception of the bloc \u2014 one focused on the processes of international cooperation and multilateralism. In this thinking, with a view to addressing what for them are pressing issues of the day, these processes are the principal qua ideal means of amplifying the \u201cvoice\u201d of such small states on the international stage.<\/p>\n

The second, smaller camp of states pays significant attention to the pursuit of narrower interests by prioritizing the alignment of foreign policies with American primacy. Such an approach is unconcerned with the wider interests of the regional grouping. Instead, it is highly invested in American dominance in respect of the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

What is more, in foreign policy terms, all these states must adjust to \u201cAmerica First\u201d unilateralism.<\/p>\n

CARICOM is split over how best to exercise a state\u2019s sovereignty, having regard to the exigencies of the age of Trump 2.0. Moreover, this rift between the two camps of CARICOM member states does not only have bearing on the foreign policy realm.<\/p>\n

But for all these debates, the programmed deliberations on this very matter at the soon-to-be-held Fiftieth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM will be the most consequential to date.<\/p>\n

The months-long efforts<\/a> mounted by Chair of CARICOM and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Terrance Drew \u2014 who met in-person with his Grenadian and Dominican counterparts in recent days \u2014 to find a way forward have been leading up to foreign policy talks at this summit.<\/p>\n

With the summit scheduled to take place in St. Kitts and Nevis from February 24 to 27, it is crunch time for high-level efforts to address regional foreign policy tensions.<\/p>\n

The uneasy state of political relations within CARICOM and between regional states and the U.S. will surely loom large in the minds of the decision-makers gathered at the summit, which is a \u201cwhat\u2019s next?\u201d moment for the bloc.<\/p>\n

\"\"Nand C. Bardouille, Ph.D., is the manager of The Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean in the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) St. Augustine Campus, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The views expressed here are his own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), comprising 14 sovereign member states, the \u201cTrump Corollary\u201d to the Monroe Doctrine has elicited two broad foreign policy reactions. For most of these small states, there is growing concern about how its operationalization is impacting…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":357033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,76,9,12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-international-relations","category-news","category-politics","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCOMMENTARY: A \u201cwhat\u2019s next?\u201d moment for CARICOM - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/commentary-a-whats-next-moment-for-caricom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: A \u201cwhat\u2019s next?\u201d moment for CARICOM - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), comprising 14 sovereign member states, the \u201cTrump Corollary\u201d to the Monroe Doctrine has elicited two broad foreign policy reactions. 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