YESTERDAY, in this space, we addressed the issue of how to treat with our Caricom sister nation, Trinidad and Tobago, after the recent deportation of 13 Jamaicans.

Today, we return to that issue given the calls for the boycott of imports from Trinidad in retaliation.

One of the points being emphasised by some is that Jamaica imports so much from Trinidad, most of which could be produced here. Some in the private sector have charged that Trinidad is guilty of unfair trade practices and insist that Jamaica should withdraw from Caricom or impose a special high tariff on goods coming from our regional neighbour.

While we understand the anger, we must make the point that such actions against Trinidad will not solve the real problem, which is Jamaica’s incapacity to produce goods and services at prices that are internationally competitive in price and quality. This is why local producers are driven out of business by imports.

The high cost of local production is the root of our problem. If we don’t import from Trinidad, it will be from some other country that has lower production costs.

Jamaica’s high cost production is caused by several factors which successive governments have failed to address over many years.

First of all, the pernicious high interest rate policy drove some viable manufacturing enterprises into bankruptcy and de-industrialised the Jamaican economy.

Second, high energy costs, consequent on the escalation of oil prices, continue to ravage us. The converse is true in Trinidad, thanks to the bounty of nature — oil. Despite all the to-do about a new power plant, let us not forget that Jamaica is just as dependent on imported oil now as we were when the first oil crisis erupted in 1973.

Added to all that, praedial larceny and drought have eliminated or substantially reduced domestic food production.

But, ultimately, the real cause is our large appetite for imported goods that can be or are produced in Jamaica.

We should ask ourselves, why does Jamaica import biscuits from Abu Dhabi, orange squash syrup from Britain, bottled water from France, toilet paper from Belize, banana chips from Venezuela, sugar from Guatemala, fruit juice from Brazil, cigars from Cuba, ginger tea from Thailand, and soap from Dominica?

The Jamaican consumer is a major contributor to the unnecessary imports. Too often there is the purchase of an imported food item, which is inferior in nutritional value and often more expensive, in preference to the fresh local produce. On a daily basis consumers walk past fresh coconut water, go into the supermarket, ignore the locally produced refrigerated coconut water, and pick up a tin of imported coconut water. Do not blame the importers, because they are satisfying a market.

We fully support the buy Jamaican campaign because it will employ more Jamaicans and save scarce foreign exchange.

Let us not excuse the Government, including the political directorate and the technicians in the state bureaucracy, for the absence of a national export policy and the lack of an import policy aimed at reducing imports of goods that can be produced at price and quality and in sufficient quantities to replace imports.

At the end of the day, however, we are all to blame for the imports from Trinidad and other countries the world over.