By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Polymers International’s top executive yesterday voiced optimism that “we’ll work our way around” whatever tariff increase Donald Trump decides to impose on Bahamian exports to the US.

Greg Ebelhar, the Freeport-based manufacturer’s chief operating officer, told Tribune Business the US is already levying a 10 percent tariff on its expanded polystyrene (EPS) products following the first round of the US president’s trade reset and pledged the company will adapt to any further changes.

Speaking after Mr Trump signalled that he plans to impose tariffs “a little over” 10 percent on imports from small Caribbean and African nations with effect from August 1, he added that Polymers - which has been present in Freeport for more than 30 years - will “figure out a way to make solutions” for whatever the US imposes.

“At this point it’s not going to give us any problems that I see,” Mr Ebelhar told this newspaper. “We’re owned by Dart. We’re a composite industry. They use our product... We’re also working on other products, different products we can put our material in and market to other countries, which will give us more long-term viability.

“This is what business does. Business reacts to whatever governments do. We figure out ways to make solutions. There’s very little expandable polystyrene in the US other than what we make, and the tariff on The Bahamas might be less than that on Chinese expandable polystyrene. That’s where we stand right now. We are still able to take it in” to the US.

Explaining that Polymers has to compete with Dart’s other US-based facilities, Mr Ebelhar added: “The bottom line is that Polymers broke ground here [Freeport] in 1995. We started up in 1997. We’ve been here almost 30 years, and I think we have outlasted anybody on the island and we are still finding ways to survive.

“We’re trying to work our way around that [Trump’s tariffs]. We’ll work our way around this one, one way or another. We’re doing what businessmen do every day; react to the environment. Same thing after Hurricane Dorian. They needed drinking water on Grand Bahama. We had the ability to provide it and give it away for two years. We find solutions. You will never become a businessman by not finding solutions to problems.”

Besides Polymers International, other Bahamian exports to the US include crawfish and other fisheries products; Morton Salt’s approximately one million tonnes of salt per annum from Inagua; Kalik, Sands and other local brands brewed by Commonwealth Brewery and Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company, and other niche products and producers.

The 10 percent US tariff was imposed back in April/May despite it appearing to cut across and violate the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). That is the one-way trade preferences regime, offering duty-free and other concessions, under which Polymers and other Bahamas exports enter the US.

The 10 percent “reciprocal tariff” rate imposed on Bahamian exports to the US appears to be based on, and designed to match, the 10 percent VAT placed at the border on all goods that enter The Bahamas. This nation received the “baseline”, or lowest, of the multiple tariff rates that Mr Trump imposed on numerous countries’ US exports, although its own higher duty rates were seemingly ignored.

Still, given that The Bahamas racked up a $2.896bn trade deficit with the US in 2024, and this nation - plus the wider Caribbean - are one of the few locations where Washington D.C. enjoys a trade surplus, any revised tariff rates imposed by Mr Trump are thought unlikely to be punitive or much higher than the present 10 percent. 

Data from the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) also showed The Bahamas exported some $608.176m worth of physical goods to the US in 2024, a large portion of which would have been Polymers’ polystyrene products and seafood.

“The United States maintained its position as The Bahamas’ number one trading partner,” the Institute said. “While The Bahamas did a significant amount of trade with China, the US Virgin Islands, Japan and Panama, the US still represented 83 percent of total imports and about 65 percent of total exports.

The Bahamas’ total trade deficit broke through the $4bn mark for the first time last year to hit $4.2bn This represents a 22.6 percent, or close to $750m year-over-year increase, on 2023’s trade deficit of around $3.487bn, which means this nation imports far more than it exports. And the US is The Bahamas’ largest trading partner and export market, accounting for 88 percent of total exports, and 74 percent of domestic exports.

The $4.274bn trade deficit for last year sets a new annual record, exceeding the six-year high of around $3.487bn in 2023 which was itself a 7 percent or $233m jump on the figures for 2022. The Bahamas in 2024 imported close to $5bn worth of goods, the actual number standing at $4.944bn, while exports in comparison stood at a relatively meagre $669.949m.

Footnote:

Solutions: Page xx

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‘Finding solutions is

what business does’