St. Vincent Imported US$79.4 Million from Trinidad in 2024 

By Val Matthias. Updated 12:40 p.m., Monday, April 27, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

At the opening ceremony of the Ninth Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Director General Dr. Didacus Jules underscored the scale of trade ties between Trinidad and Tobago and the sub-region, revealing that St. Vincent and the Grenadines alone imported approximately US$79.4 million worth of goods in 2024. 

Speaking in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Jules emphasized that while Trinidad and Tobago’s exports are globally oriented, the OECS remains one of its most structurally dependent regional markets. He noted that OECS member states collectively import between US$400 million and US$700 million annually from Trinidad, with St. Vincent consistently ranking the twin‑island republic among its top suppliers of fuel, food products, and manufactured goods. 

“Individually small, but collectively consequential, OECS member states import an estimated 400 to 700 million US in goods annually from Trinidad and Tobago. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines alone imported approximately 79.4 million US in 2024,” Dr. Jules said. 

The Director General described this dynamic as a relationship of “asymmetric interdependence,” stressing that while Trinidad and Tobago is the principal exporting economy in the region, the OECS bloc represents one of its largest and most stable clustered markets comparable in scale to Jamaica and Barbados. 

Dr. Jules said that this trade reality highlights the OECS’s latent collective leverage and the need to rebalance trade for mutual benefit. He urged member states to embrace “pooling sovereignty” and convergence of foreign policy as strategic imperatives in an increasingly fragmented global order. 

The meeting, placed emphasis on strengthening regional integration, restructuring OECS diplomatic missions, and safeguarding economic instruments such as citizenship by investment programmes. Dr. Jules concluded with a call for unity, warning that small states risk being acted upon by global forces unless they act deliberately and collectively.

END