Impact of 9/11 on Caribbean Counties
The Caribbean Impact: Trade, Economy, Immigration, and Regional Security
While the movement of peoples and goods between the contiguous land borders of the United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico represents the major cross-border movement, the
“Third Border” of the United States, namely the Caribbean, is also critical, raising important economic and security concerns that Washington cannot afford to overlook. The Caribbean is the tenth-largest trading partner of the United States, a major regional source of migration and visitors to the United States, and an important destination for both North American tourists and business investments. In the immediate wake of the September 11 attacks, turning off the transportation spigot that carries travelers and cargo to and from the United States jeopardized the future of already fragile Caribbean economies and added to potential scenarios for regional instability. Major sectors of Caribbean economies — air transport, tourism, agricultural commodity exports, manufacturing, mining, and capital markets — depend on ready access to the U.S. economy. Even by mid-2002, the economic impact on the Caribbean was still severe. Tourism is the single largest earner of foreign exchange in 16 of 28 countries in the Wider
Caribbean region. Even before September 11, tourism, which directly or indirectly employs one in four
Caribbean citizens and generates income for the region in excess of US$2 billion per year, had been in decline as a result of the downturn in the global economy. Weeks after the tragic loss of over 3,000 innocent civilians — including at least 160 nationals from 15 Caribbean countries — the short-term outlook for Caribbean tourism was grim. International leisure passengers cancelled flights, air carriers reduced their services, cruise ships shifted their destinations, and hotel staffs were retrenched. The negative multiplier effect on businesses or investments that depend indirectly
While the movement of peoples and goods between the contiguous land borders of the United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico represents the major cross-border movement, the
“Third Border” of the United States, namely the Caribbean, is also critical, raising important economic and security concerns that Washington cannot afford to overlook. The Caribbean is the tenth-largest trading partner of the United States, a major regional source of migration and visitors to the United States, and an important destination for both North American tourists and business investments. In the immediate wake of the September 11 attacks, turning off the transportation spigot that carries travelers and cargo to and from the United States jeopardized the future of already fragile Caribbean economies and added to potential scenarios for regional instability. Major sectors of Caribbean economies — air transport, tourism, agricultural commodity exports, manufacturing, mining, and capital markets — depend on ready access to the U.S. economy. Even by mid-2002, the economic impact on the Caribbean was still severe. Tourism is the single largest earner of foreign exchange in 16 of 28 countries in the Wider
Caribbean region. Even before September 11, tourism, which directly or indirectly employs one in four
Caribbean citizens and generates income for the region in excess of US$2 billion per year, had been in decline as a result of the downturn in the global economy. Weeks after the tragic loss of over 3,000 innocent civilians — including at least 160 nationals from 15 Caribbean countries — the short-term outlook for Caribbean tourism was grim. International leisure passengers cancelled flights, air carriers reduced their services, cruise ships shifted their destinations, and hotel staffs were retrenched. The negative multiplier effect on businesses or investments that depend indirectly