De­spite it be­ing dead­line day for the US to im­pose its 15% rec­i­p­ro­cal tar­iff on a range of goods im­port­ed from Trinidad and To­ba­go, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar seeks to as­sure the na­tion that the Gov­ern­ment is ex­plor­ing three op­tions, one be­ing con­tin­ued di­a­logue with the Unit­ed States.

The in­crease is ex­pect­ed to af­fect Trinidad and To­ba­go’s man­u­fac­tur­ing and ex­port sec­tors. While en­er­gy prod­ucts like crude oil and nat­ur­al gas are ex­empt, ma­jor ex­ports such as am­mo­nia and fer­tilis­er will face the new tar­iff.

Au­gust 7 was des­ig­nat­ed as the dead­line for the im­po­si­tion of the tar­iff.