April 6, 2026 • 3 min readCaribbean Daily Brief
Regional news for the Caribbean diaspora — without the spin, with the context.
THE CARIBBEAN IS STILL PAYING TO SELL TO AMERICA
As of April 2026, most Caribbean goods still face a 10 per cent baseline import duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That number sounds modest until you remember that Caribbean producers of rum, processed foods, specialty goods and building products operate on margins where 10 percent is not a rounding error, it is the difference between competitive and not. Sir Ronald Sanders, writing in Kaieteur News this week, makes the point plainly: the Caribbean has not chosen to diversify away from the US market — it is being driven to do so. CARICOM states are now intensifying intra-regional sourcing and widening relationships with other international partners. This is what “diversification” looks like when it is not a strategy but a survival response.
Read More → April 6, 2026 • 3 min readDaily Brief
Your 5-minute guide to what’s happening in Guyana — plain talk, no spin.
SURINAME CHARGES BY THE RIVERFULL
The Suriname river fee saga continues to produce strong language and diplomatic protest letters that Paramaribo appears to be filing directly in the bin. Guyanese vessel operators in the Upper Corentyne are now facing “pilot licence” fees of up to US$2,500 per trip, plus broker charges of US$1,000 to US$1,500, which is an impressive number for a river that Guyana has legal navigation rights on under customary international law. The Berbice Chamber and the GCCI have both called for the government to freeze the Corentyne Bridge project until Suriname gets its act together, which is roughly equivalent to refusing to build a fence with your neighbour until they stop letting their cow into your yard. President Ali lodged a formal protest. Suriname has not responded. The word “reciprocity” has now been invoked by every arm of Guyanese government except the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, and give them time.
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