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Rubio and Holness discuss trade, nearshoring and aligning U.S. aid with Jamaica's priorities
Summary
Prime Minister Andrew Holness and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed expanding trade and investment, including nearshoring and energy, and Rubio outlined a U.S. goal to realign foreign aid to partner-led projects and support skills training.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness discussed avenues to expand bilateral trade and U.S. assistance that supports Jamaica's economic priorities during a press conference in Kingston.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said bilateral trade with the United States "surpassed $3,000,000,000 in 2023" and said both governments discussed ways to attract U.S. investment in energy, logistics and nearshoring. Holness raised renewal of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act as a critical trade issue for CARICOM member states.
Rubio emphasized the United States' interest in encouraging productive capacity closer to North American markets and said that U.S. policy realignment could create opportunities for manufacturing and logistics in Jamaica. "It makes all the sense in the world to see more productive capacity, more manufacturing, more industry relocated into our hemisphere," Rubio said.
Both leaders discussed the importance of reliable, affordable energy for manufacturing; Rubio mentioned U.S. liquefied natural gas as a potential export and noted the need to protect Jamaica's environment while using resources to generate income and jobs.
On foreign aid, Rubio described a U.S. approach to restructure assistance so that U.S. embassies work with host governments to identify needs and align programs with local priorities. "How we want it to be in the future is that our embassies are involved with the host government... and we provide assistance geared towards the needs of the nation states that are hosting us," Rubio said. He framed the change as shifting from an externally-driven program model to partner-led efforts and said the United States would continue to provide foreign aid.
The pair also discussed workforce development. Rubio and Holness spoke about upskilling and skills-training partnerships so an incoming company would find a qualified workforce in Jamaica. Officials did not provide specific program names, budgets or timelines for proposed skills initiatives; they described further collaboration and follow-up by embassy and agency teams.
Ending: The leaders said follow-up discussions between U.S. and Jamaican teams would determine concrete programs, funding sources and timelines for trade facilitation, investment and skills training.
