Durrant Pate/ Contributor

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel next week to the Caribbean, where he will meet with several leaders as part of a three-nation tour.

On Wednesday Rubio will travel to Jamaica for talks with Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are scheduled to meet today ahead of Rubio’s visit to form a united front entering next week’s meeting.

After his visit to Jamaica, Rubio will then travel to Guyana and Suriname where he will meet with their respective presidents, Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi. The two oil-rich nations on the tip of South America are part of the 15-member CARICOM regional trade group.

Pushing for a united front

Last month, during a regional summit in Barbados, the CARICOM’s chairwoman, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, extended an invitation to President Donald Trump to visit the Caribbean, adding that regional leaders also hoped to meet with senior administration officials. 

Mottley plans to be in Kingston next week, where she will represent CARICOM. Trinidad and Tobago, which is responsible for matters about security, will be represented by its newly minted Prime Minister, Stuart Young. 

The final leader who has been invited to meet with Rubio is the newly installed head of Haiti’s embattled Transitional Presidential Council, Fritz Alphonse Jean. Rubio’s visit comes as leaders grow increasingly concerned about the quickly deteriorating security situation in Haiti, which threatens to spill over into the region, and several worrying U.S. policy shifts that stand to have negative effects on their vulnerable economies.

Regional concerns over Trump’s tariff plans

Mottley has called an emergency virtual meeting for Friday to discuss the potential effects of a proposed Trump administration hike in port fees for China-linked ships going to the United States. Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order that would levy fines of up to $1.5 million on Chinese-made ships or vessels from fleets that include ships made in China. 

The proposal, which is already stoking fears in the U.S. agriculture market, is also causing concerns in the Caribbean, where leaders in recent weeks have been baulking at other Trump policy initiatives, including threats to restrict U.S. visas for high-ranking government officials and nationals of six Caribbean countries including Cuba and Haiti under a new travel ban.

Cuba’s medical missions

Last month Rubio announced that anyone participating in Cuba’s medical missions, which deploy nurses and doctors to the Caribbean and elsewhere, risks having their U.S. visa cancelled. 

This month Miami Herald reported that as part of a separate policy, Trump loyalists are weighing including Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and several Eastern Caribbean on a new expanded travel ban, in which some countries would face an absolute ban and others less harsh restrictions.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency had nothing to announce at this time about Rubio’s travel plans. The spokesperson also said the Department does not comment on internal deliberations or communications in response to the proposed travel ban.