Energy, Security, and Trade Top Rubio's Caribbean Agenda

In a pre-trip press briefing, Claver-Carone highlighted the “historic opportunity for energy security in the Caribbean,” noting the rapid development of Guyana’s oil industry and the expectation that Suriname will soon follow in its neighbor’s footsteps, as well as Trinidad and Tobago’s push to revamp its natural gas industry. He pointed out that several CARICOM countries are former beneficiaries of the now-defunct PetroCaribe agreement, through which they purchased oil from Venezuela with preferential credit arrangements until 2018. He expressed hope that having strong oil and gas producers within CARICOM would foster regional energy self-sufficiency and boost economic development.

Guyana, which is estimated to have the world’s highest crude oil reserves per capita, has been one of the fastest growing economies globally since oil production began in 2019. Suriname is set to begin exploiting its recently discovered deposits of oil in 2028 and natural gas in 2032. Secretary Rubio visited the neighboring countries on March 27. In a joint press conference with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, Rubio referred to Guyana as “one of the most exciting places in the world to be right now” and said that the United States wants “to be a partner” in its “transformative change.” While in Suriname with President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, Rubio highlighted the existing U.S. involvement in the country’s nascent petrochemical industry and promised to promote further investment.

For Trinidad and Tobago, the largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently installed Prime Minister Stuart Young lobbied to preserve the license granted by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in October 2023 that allows the twin-island nation to extract and export natural gas from Venezuela, its closest neighbor on the South American mainland, in a project expected to come onstream in 2027. In a press conference two days after meeting with Rubio in Jamaica, Young, who is also the energy minister, did not provide guarantees that the OFAC license would be renewed in October 2025—when it is due to expire—but stated he had emphasized its importance to the region’s energy security and received assurances from the secretary of state that “U.S. foreign policy is in no way meant to affect or harm Trinidad and Tobago.”

Of particular importance in discussions with Guyana was its tense relationship with neighboring Venezuela. The two countries are currently embroiled in a territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region, a decades-long issue that the administration of Nicolás Maduro has escalated in recent years. On March 1, President Ali announced that Venezuelan naval ships had entered Guyana’s territorial waters and passed near to ExxonMobil oil installations in the area. This prompted a response from the U.S. State Department, which posted on X that “Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime.”

When asked by a reporter during a March 27 press conference to clarify whether a U.S. response could include military action, Rubio replied, “It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil. It would be a very bad week and it would not end well for them." He added that the “U.S. Navy can get anywhere in the world.”

In her capacity as CARICOM chair, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados said she asked Secretary Rubio that the region be exempted from a proposed U.S. levy on Chinese-made ships. The Caribbean is a region highly dependent on shipping for the import and export of goods and experts have pointed out that the smaller containerships which service the Caribbean tend to be Chinese-made, as are many of the cargo vessels departing from Florida, a hub for region's trade with the United States.

Mottley warned that these increased shipping costs would likely be passed on to both businesses and consumers. In a CARICOM meeting convened five days before Rubio’s arrival in the region, Guyana’s Ali also noted that the proposed tax on Chinese cargo ships would hurt the region’s oil and gas industry.

Insecurity in Haiti, where gangs are thought to control at least 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, continues to pose a challenge to regional stability. Speaking before the trip, Claver-Carone mentioned that the State Department was developing a strategy to support the Haitian National Police and said that Jamaica had been a “key partner from a security perspective…in regards to dealing with arms trafficking” from the United States that “feeds the gang violence in Haiti.”

In Jamaica, Rubio met with Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, to discuss these problems. Back in February, Rubio issued a waiver on the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid to provide around $41 million in support of Haiti’s National Police and the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission that has been deployed in Haiti since June 2024. However, the pause did apply to about $13 million earmarked for a U.N.-managed fund for the mission.

CARICOM leaders also raised concerns about the threat of losing their U.S. visas due to the presence of Cuban medical professionals in their respective countries. In February, Secretary Rubio put out a statement entitled “Expansion of Visa Restrictions Policy for Individuals Exploiting Cuban Labor,” that explicitly included foreign government officials deemed to be facilitating Cuba’s medical missions. Washington has long maintained that these missions amount to human trafficking, alleging that Cuban doctors and nurses are not paid directly and often have their passports and other identification documents withheld.

During the March 26 joint press conference, Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica stated that Cuban medical personnel in Jamaica “are treated within our labor laws and benefit like any other worker" and noted that they help to offset a brain drain of trained health personnel from the island. This echoed recent statements from several other Caribbean leaders, who affirmed that Cuban medical professionals contribute to the region’s public health systems and are employed in accordance with international labor standards. Rubio responded that the program may operate differently in different countries and promised to “talk about it further and have a better understanding” of how it functions in Jamaica.