Trinidad and tobago Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in trinidad and tobago, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Market Overview
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Trinidad and Tobago (TT) is a high-income, small island developing country with a GDP per capita of approximately $18,222 and an annual GDP of $27.9 billion in 2022.  GDP is expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2023.  It has the largest economy in the English-speaking Caribbean due to natural gas and petrochemical production.  In 2022, the oil and gas sector accounted for 29.8 percent of GDP and 81 percent of export earnings, higher than in previous years due to high global commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The United States remains TT’s largest trading partner, accounting for 39.4 percent of the country’s imports and 39.3 percent of TT’s exports in 2022.  Major categories of U.S. exports include petroleum oil, aircraft parts, machinery, chemicals, plastics, and food and beverage products.  TT’s investment climate is generally open and most investment barriers have been eliminated.  Major issues affecting some companies are delays in obtaining foreign exchange, slow government bureaucracy, crime, low labor productivity, and corruption.

Top five reasons to export to TT:

  • TT is a high-income country with close cultural, social, and economic ties to the United States.
  • Consumers have a strong appetite for imported products and U.S. products are considered high quality goods.
  • A sovereign wealth fund and foreign reserves that currently provide 8 months of import cover create financial resilience. 
  • The business environment is generally open and most barriers to trade have been eliminated.
  • TT benefits from a stable democratic political system.

Political Environment

Visit State Department’s website for background on the Trinidad and Tobago’s political and economic environment.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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