Doux-doux.
Capitulation by language.
Yuh hear di Chamber statement Wednesday morning? Yuh read it twice? Because Cheryl read it five time. Capitulation by language. Now dat is a phrase worth sayin’ out loud. Slowly. Because dat is what di Chamber just said about we own government’s CARICOM position. Not “we have concerns.” Not “we respectfully disagree.” Capitulation by language. Dat is a knife, doux-doux. A polite knife. But a knife.
And di Chamber went further. Dey ask di Minister of Trade — in Parliament — to explain why di government tabled three counter-amendments instead of seeking a side agreement. Variable-geometry. Big word. Mean: countries dat want to harmonize can harmonize. Countries dat don’t want to, don’t have to. Trinidad coulda sit out di harmonization while letting Guyana, Belize, Suriname, di Eastern Caribbean go ahead. Dat option exist. It exist in di Grand Anse Declaration from 1989, doux-doux. Older than half di delegation in Kingston.
So why didn’t Trinidad pick variable-geometry? Why insist on unanimity-veto? Why force di entire framework to collapse to “framework of intent” instead of letting willing states proceed?
Cheryl will tell yuh why. Because Trinidad does not benefit from a regional market dat exists without us. If di Eastern Caribbean and Guyana harmonize and trade increases between dem and Belize and Suriname, Trinidad lose share. Bajan biscuit move into Belize. Suriname rice move into St. Lucia. Trinidad export number drop. So di TTMA must protect di unanimity-veto. Not because di harmonization timeline aggressive. Because Trinidad cannot afford a CARICOM dat works without us.
Dat is what “framework of intent” mean. It mean we won. We blocked it. Di rest of di region cannot move forward without our permission.
Now hear di question Cheryl have for di TTMA. Yuh celebrating dis as a “sensible pause.” Pause for what? Pause for whom? Di pause is permanent, doux-doux. Dat is di whole point. October meeting going produce another framework of intent. April 2027 going produce another. Di pause is not a pause. Di pause is di policy.
And di Minister of Trade — di man whose Cabinet position depend on dis exact outcome — refuse to come to Parliament to explain. Won’t take di press conference. Issue no response to di Chamber. Yuh know what dat call, doux-doux? Dat call avoiding accountability while collecting di credit.
But notice. Dis is not a Trinidad problem. Dis is a regional problem dat has Trinidad at di centre. Cheryl Trinidadian and Cheryl willing to say: every Bajan, every Jamaican, every Guyanese, every St. Lucian who buying biscuit dat cost too much because of di tariff stack — yuh paying for dis decision. Yuh been paying for it since 1989. Di Grand Anse signed di year mi pickney was born. He grown up. He have him own pickney. And we still paying di tax di ‘89 framework was supposed to remove.
Dat is not integration, doux-doux.
Dat is thirty-seven years of capitulation by language.