Trinidad and Tobago’s support for a new United States-led anti-cartel coalition may bring increased security cooperation, but it could also carry geopolitical implications for the country’s international partnerships, political scientist Bishnu Ragoonath says.

Speaking during a telephone interview yesterday, Ragoonath noted that the coalition, announced by US President Donald Trump, is intended to unite a select number of countries across the Western Hemisphere in a coordinated effort to combat drug-trafficking networks and organised criminal cartels.

The initiative forms part of a wi­der strategy by Trump to intensify the fight against drug cartels ope­ra­ting across Latin America and the Caribbean through a new military partnership known as the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.