Regional paint stakeholders and retailers want increased tariffs for products imported from US

Antigua, CMC – Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Clarence Henry, has reiterated a call for an “independent and comprehensive” analysis of claims being made by regional paint manufacturers that have been calling for an increase in the tariffs on paint imports from the United States.

Henry, who met with local manufacturers on Tuesday to discuss the issue, said that the analysis must be done independently of the manufacturers.

Local manufacturers are insisting that when the government implemented Article 164 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, while they had experienced some tough times, they were still able to survive.

They called for the government to maintain vigilance against the creation of monopolies, which they claim would result from the support of the regional paint manufacturers’ request.

Henry, in a September 26, 2023, letter to Trade Minister ,E.P. Chet Greene,  said that the “so-called study cannot be taken at face value since it was not conducted by an independent consultant”.

The veteran trade official said it had not been coordinated by the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and “for this reason, the document cannot be relied on as one that provides a transparent and fair comprehensive analysis”.

In their September 20, 2023, letter to Greene, and signed by Marguerite Desir, the CARICOM Paint Manufacturers, said they were seeking the support of the Gaston Browne administration “for remedial measures via an alteration of the Common External Tariff (CET) on paints.”

The CET is a single tariff rate agreed to by all CARICOM members on imports of a product from outside the CARICOM, and informed sources told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that when the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) presented the study to the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), almost all of the member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) did not support the request.

In their letter, the regional manufacturers said the study was commissioned by them and “ its conduct has been coordinated by the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), at the invitation of the CARICOM/Regional Paint Manufacturers”.

The regional paint manufacturers argue that the CARICOM market for paints has suffered major incursions on account of “substantial under-pricing of paints” from the United States.

“Individual regional paint producers have raised this matter, with their national Governments, on numerous occasions, over the past several years. While a few Governments have attempted to address the issue, the actions have fallen short in their efficacy, having regard to the need for a ‘whole of community’ response, via the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) (i.e. a CET alteration, rather than an individual country response,via a CET suspension).”

They said that member of the OECS and the paint industry in the lesser developed countries are beneficiaries of Article 164 “and has shown tremendous promise as a successful Community enterprise.

“The incursions from the US have acted to stymie the success of OECS producers, by significantly eroding price competitiveness and market share within both LDC and MDC markets. By this measure, left unaddressed the under-pricing will completely nullify the intended benefit of Chapter Seven and Article 164 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC),” which governs the regional integration movement.

“An opportunity to present the study will highlight the egregious extent of under-pricing to an extent that now threatens innovation, industry expansion, and for some manufacturers, even their business continuity as producers,” the regional paint manufacturers wrote.

During the meeting on Tuesday, the local manufacturers maintained their call for the increase in tariffs on paints coming into the region from North America warning that consumers could be adversely affected in the future.

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