PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A senior United States government official Monday said he has been “saddened” that over the years, Washington’s relationship “with our friends in the Caribbean have not been as close as they should be”
United States Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau“I mean, the United States and the Caribbean countries seems to me are united in many ways by geography, by history. There’s so much that we can do together. And I feel, I really do feel like this Prime Minister here in Trinidad today is really opening the door for a new vision of US-Caribbean relations that nobody has ever opened before,” said United States Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau.
Landau, who was speaking at the re-opening of the Ibis Steel Company, a local subsidiary of the US-based Pinnacle Steel and Vanadium Corporation occupying the site of the former ArcelorMittal steel mill that closed in March 2016, said that his presence here “is really a sign of recognition and respect and appreciation for that kind of partnership” .
Ever since she led her United National Congress (UNC) led coalition to victory in the Apri 28, 2025 general elections, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has pushed Port of Spain firmly towards the United States, defending Washington’s war on illegal drugs in the Caribbean even as regional countries urged that the Caribbean remain a zone of peace.
In March, she joined President Donald Trump at the “Shield of the Americas” summit as he launched the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition to fight regional transnational crime.
Last week, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Jim Risch, publicly thanked Trinidad and Tobago for an “active role” in the arrest and extradition of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
But Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has maintained that local military personnel were not involved in the January 3 operation in Caracas, even as she declined to clarify what Risch meant by an “active role,” telling reporters that they should ask the US senator directly.
In July, she said that her discussions with Deputy Assistant Secretary, Barbara Feinstein were aimed at “deepening cooperation between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States.
Last week, last week, former Jamaica prime minister Bruce Golding expressed the hope that “the United States will soften the tone of its relationship with Jamaica and rekindle the strong, decades-old bond between both nations which Jamaicans cherish.
He said current current demands by Washington are “at odds with the very essence of true friendship”, pointing to the many challenges facing the island as established rules are being discarded and “new rules are being handed down, not after discussions and negotiations, but unilaterally by social media postings at 2:30 in the morning when most of us are asleep”.
The United States has frequently expressed concern over China’s expanding economic and infrastructural footprint in the Caribbean, viewing Beijing’s investments in local ports, telecommunications, and construction as a strategic challenge to its security and influence in the region.
Landau, who will hold talks with Persad-Bissessar before he flies out of Guyana to meet with President Irfaam Ali, told the ceremony that Persad-Bissessar, much like President Trump, campaigned on economic renewal and security renewal.
“And those are both really important, critical objectives for both our governments. And so we are delighted to work together. And again, I am here to show that both sides are reaching out their hands of friendship and this plant is probably as concrete a symbol of that friendship and that cooperation as can possibly be imagined.”
He said that the private sector in the US has played a supporting role in ensuring the US’s vision for the socio-economic development of the region, adding that “it’s not the government that has made the United States the leader of the free world.
“It’s our dynamic private sector. And I feel very proud as an American to be represented by our colleagues from Pinnacle here and by Pinnacle in general. I know you guys really are going to be (12:36) real ambassadors for our country here in Trinidad and Tobago.”
He said that the plant “is a great symbol of the renaissance that we have in our relationship and really the incredible opportunities in the future, not just for Trinidad, but really across the entire Caribbean region.
“I think it’s a region with huge economic opportunities. And it’s one, frankly, that, you know, the United States is refocused on this region under President Trump, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”
