In an uncertain global trading order, is the WTO still relevant to the Caribbean?
Alicia Nicholls$*Failure. Broken. Flop. These are some of the descriptors commentators have used for the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s fourteenth Ministerial Conference (MC 14) held in Yaounde, Cameroon, from March 26-30, 2026. Traditionally, this event would not be on the average citizen’s radar, but the tariff turmoil sparked by the United States’ so-called “reciprocal tariffs” and the oil price shocks from the conflict in Iran and resulting effects in the Strait of Hormuz have made trade impossible to ignore, and with it, renewed questions about whether the WTO still matters.