The Caribbean Community Preferential Trade Agreement: Is there a legal obligation to create trade?

The other former colonial regions in Africa and Asia both attempted regional integration well after gaining independence from the various imperial powers. Thus, it must be recalled that the initial pivot to regional integration by the then British Caribbean territories, which eventually became Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States, was as a result of their quest for sovereignty and the right to determine their own post-colonial development path. In this vein, the research results map the twin forces of decolonization and globalization and their legal, political and economic effect on the small, developing countries of the CARICOM region as they continue their regional integration process.

Despite the lasting imprint of colonial trade policy and the modern-day policy confines of the rules-based multilateral trading system (MTS), regional integration in the Caribbean is still largely aimed at the improvement of the Caribbean economic condition and the determination of the Caribbean development path. The research results capture how the use of regional integration, as an instrument, is still assisting the CARICOM Member States with this ambition in a changing international system.