Trinidad minister defends local manufactures as well as Jamaican counterpart

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Trade and Industry Minister Vasant Bharath Tuesday defended his Jamaican counterpart, AJ Nicholson, who has come under pressure to “step aside” amid the ongoing trade dispute between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Bharath, speaking on local radio here, described the call for Nicholson’s departure by the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) as unfair since the existing trade relations between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have been going for a long time. “The existing trade imbalance existed under the previous Jamaica government and I think it is a little bit on unfair to be calling on the current minister of trade to resign in Jamaica,” said Bharath.