Trinidad and Tobago breaks ranks with CARICOM at UN General Assembly

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Trinidad and Tobago’s Changing Tune at UN General Assembly Raises Questions About Regional Solidarity on Key Issues of Regional Interest

At this year’s General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly, the voice of Trinidad and Tobago carried a noticeably different tone. Once a consistent champion of small island developing states (SIDS) and a dependable partner in CARICOM’s collective advocacy for climate justice, equitable development and multilateral cooperation, Port of Spain’s latest rhetoric has prompted quiet scrutiny across the region and beyond.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s address to the 80th General Assembly represented a marked departure from the tone and priorities that have traditionally shaped Trinidad and Tobago’s diplomacy on the world stage. Most striking was the government’s choice to step back from the familiar SIDS narrative that has long underpinned CARICOM’s united front. While leaders from Barbados, The Bahamas and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines pressed for urgent climate action, debt restructuring and meaningful support for vulnerable states, Trinidad and Tobago opted for a noticeably different approach.

trinidad tobago breaks ranks: key developments so far.

Instead of reiterating calls for ambitious emissions reductions and climate finance, Persad-Bissessar warned against the “weaponisation” of climate policy and argued that fossil fuels remain essential to the country’s survival. This framing, while not entirely at odds with a balanced development agenda, sits uneasily alongside the language used by its regional neighbours. It suggests a deliberate pivot away from the traditional advocacy that once placed Trinidad and Tobago among the leading voices for SIDS interests at the United Nations.

The shift was also reflected in the government’s strong emphasis on security. Declaring that the Caribbean is “not a zone of peace”, Persad-Bissessar described the region as one increasingly besieged by transnational crime and drug trafficking. Jamaica raised similar concerns about gang violence, yet the overall tone of Trinidad and Tobago’s statement leaned more heavily towards aligning its security priorities with those of Washington.

It is this apparent convergence with United States policy that has fuelled unease among regional analysts. The language of sovereignty, once a hallmark of Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign policy, was overshadowed by messaging that echoed American concerns with unusual precision. The focus on law enforcement cooperation, transnational threats and energy security, although legitimate, was interpreted by many as a calculated attempt to signal closer alignment with US interests rather than an expression of Caribbean-led solutions.

This repositioning comes at a delicate moment for CARICOM. As climate-related disasters intensify and debt burdens deepen, the bloc has been working to strengthen its collective voice on the global stage. Unified messaging remains a crucial part of that effort. Trinidad and Tobago’s divergence, therefore, risks diminishing the region’s negotiating leverage and weakening the sense of solidarity on which small states depend to advance their shared agenda.

Diplomatic priorities evolve, and governments inevitably respond to shifting domestic pressures. Yet for a country that has long prided itself on principled multilateralism and strong advocacy for small states, this new posture feels uncharacteristically deferential. It has left some observers questioning whether Trinidad and Tobago is charting a pragmatic new course or edging closer to Washington’s orbit, possibly at the expense of the regional unity it once helped to shape.