Unleashing the Dragon in the Caribbean Sea: Exploring the Economic Impacts of Increased China-Caribbean Trade and Investment

Lisandra Colley and Anna Strutt

No 332609, Conference papers from Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project

Abstract: China’s expanding and evolving economic presence in the Caribbean Region has the potential to significantly impact the region. China views its engagement with Caribbean countries as primarily economic in nature, and in 2008 it outlined its strategic approach to the Region in its inaugural Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean. China’s presence in the Caribbean is viewed with much skepticism, however, Beijing sees bilateral cooperation as means by which it can gain access to key markets, as well as to expand its political links with Caribbean countries and build goodwill in the region. Likewise, in an effort to diversify their trading partner base and explore new markets, Caribbean countries are moving towards forging closer economic ties with non-traditional partners, including China. China’s rise as a global economic powerhouse and its increased importance as a trade and investment partner for Caribbean countries form the basis of the need for greater economic cooperation. China is already a key trading partner for most of the Caribbean countries. It is the second largest import partner for Cuba, accounting for 19% of Cuban imports in 2013. It is also the second largest source of goods imports for countries in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), accounting for almost 6% of total CARICOM imports in 2013. Chinese trade in the Caribbean is slowly changing the dynamics of the traditional trading environment, which has seen the United States, Canada and the European Union as the dominant players for many decades. The Caribbean Region has also become an emerging destination for Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI). Investments to date tend to be focused in key sectors, including the sugar industry in Jamaica, the oil industry in both Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, the mining industry in Guyana, and the logistics and tourism industries in The Bahamas. However, there are some emerging investment areas of particular interest, perhaps most notably in Jama...

Keywords: International; Relations/Trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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