CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — The St Lucia government says it has established task forces to monitor the United States (US) government’s current policy changes with the aim being to mitigate against possible negative impacts on their population.

“The government of St Lucia is closely monitoring the recent policy shifts by the United States government, particularly regarding the imposition of tariffs and changes to its immigration policy,” Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre told a news conference.

“Considering that these changes may have both social and economic effects on St Lucia, the cabinet of ministers has formed a task force to deal with the ramifications and possible implications of a change in both of these policies: namely the imposition of tariffs by the US, and the threat of deportation of non-nationals in the US,” he added.

Pierre said that the new policies by the Donald Trump administration could have economic effects on the island.

“This shows that what happens outside of St Lucia has an impact on St Lucia. We are a very small economy. Regarding the tariffs, we are concerned about the cost of inflation on the cost of goods and services, particularly food. As you know we import many of our foodstuffs and other goods from the US.

“Now, more than ever, this shows the importance of having local produce and local goods,” Pierre added.

He said that the task force on tariffs is being led by the Minister for Commerce Emma Hippolyte while the task force on immigration is led by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Crime Prevention, Jeremiah Norbert.

Pierre urged importers to work alongside the task force to help mitigate against the possible effects of tariff increases.

Since his inauguration, President Trump has signed a significant number of executive orders ranging from the deportation of illegal migrants to imposing tariffs on countries like China, Canada and Mexico.