r/Jamaica • u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 • 3d ago

Economy Tariffs shouldn't really Hurt us

Those who live in Yard know that for so long we have been creating our own products, and buying from anywhere but the US. This goes back to the 1980s when America would give us 'string loans'... that is... they loan us $X but it can only be used to buy American products.

There was a time when in a supermarket big loooong aisles full of US stuff.

Over the years we started to quietly replace them with local products so that we didn't those loans.

We also started buying from other islands so that we had stuff from T'dad and of course, China.

Just before Trump did his tariff thing I looked at where my stuff came from.

Okay, everything that plugs in comes from China. Almost all my clothes come from China.

Now, my groceries.

I buy local stuff and stuff that comes from T'dad and every where else. Like this yogurt I use on my cereal comes from France, the other from Spain and the cereal is Jamaican. The coffee is Jamaican and I use Lasco instead of coffee mate.

The kind of flat breads/wraps i use are made in Jamaica as are the vegetables, soup, porridge, chocolate... in fact... I read labels before purchase.

if you look on the roads we have Toyota, Sukuzi... I haven't seen a US car since some years ago this Dodge.

I think Jamaica is not going to suffer very much because we wisely moved to standing on our own.

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u/No_Cabinet7357 3d ago

We would have to find a new supplier for fuel, electronics and machinery though, as the US is currently our biggest source for those things.

On the export side, our exports are going to be more expensive for US consumers, meaning they'll probably buy less from us.

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u/frazbox 3d ago

Which can also be a positive for Jamaicans. If they don’t buy out goods, we in Jamaica will have surplus making that item cheaper on the local market

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u/tallawahroots 3d ago

That describes less foreign currency earning capacity. Yay, I feel so old remembering how my parents jumped hoops in those days when a bicycle for Christmas meant finding USD for the store and then it was stolen on Boxing Day.

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u/zapotron_5000 3d ago

Jah kno....