Trump passes ‘national remittance tax’, what does that mean for Jamaica?
/ Our Today
administrator
Countries across the Caribbean, including Jamaica, await the negative fallout in domestic remittance inflows as US President Donald Trump pushed through the passage of his ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ on Friday (July 4).
In yet another unprecedented move, the Trump administration imposed a one per cent ‘national remittance’ tax on outbound money transfers.
The levy will apply to remittances made on or after January 1, 2026, in a move aimed at shoring up federal government revenue streams.
The bill, which will also fund Trump’s immigration crackdown, makes his 2017 tax cuts permanent and is expected to disenfranchise millions of Americans who now find themselves off Medicaid health insurance. It was passed with a 218-214 vote after an emotional debate on the House of Representatives floor.
Jamaicans living in the United States are the largest contributing sector within its expansive global diaspora, remitting US$177 million back to their home country in April 2025, according to statistics from the Central Bank.
In fact, the Bank of Jamaica finds that US-originating remittances eclipse contributions from all other major diaspora regions and are five times greater than money transfers out of the United Kingdom, the next strongest country, with US$29.7 million in April 2025.
It has the potential to derail Jamaica’s fragile economy, which, only in Q1 2025, has re-emerged from technical recession status after two quarters of negative GDP growth due to the impact of Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Raphael.
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