For more than five decades, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states have sought to turn their vulnerability as small states into collective strength. That effort is now under strain—perhaps like never before. The second Trump administration is prompting the bloc’s 14 sovereign member states to take fundamentally different approaches to exercising their agency—and convert it into influence and leverage—in an increasingly contested world order.

Founded in 1973, CARICOM brings together 15 Caribbean nations to advance regional integration, coordinate foreign policy, and pool their collective strength in addressing economic, social, and security challenges. With the exception of Haiti, whose independence dates to 1804, its mainly Anglophone members gained political independence between the 1960s and 1980s.

Against that historical backdrop, CARICOM’s founding treaty enshrines the coordination of member states’ foreign policies as a core pillar. Yet the Community’s widening foreign policy divide is making it more difficult for it to maintain its collective diplomatic agency. This divide centers on a fundamental question: How should small states navigate a power disparity they cannot eliminate while creating greater room for strategic choice? Read more