BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – UK businesses and consumers will benefit from a trade continuity agreement maintaining current arrangements with countries in the Caribbean soon after Britain leaves the EU.
Trade policy minister George Hollingbery signed the UK-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Friday, March 22, with ministers and representatives from Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The news has been welcomed by businesses and business groups including the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA), one of the oldest private sector trade associations in the Caribbean. WIRSPA represents some brands well-known to UK consumers including Appleton, Angostura and Mount Gay Rum.
The agreement will allow these businesses and many others across the Caribbean to trade like they do now, without any additional barriers or tariffs.
It eliminates all tariffs on all goods imported from the signing countries into the UK, while those Caribbean states will continue gradually to cut import tariffs on most of the region’s imports from the UK.
