Donald Trump and TT’s energy sector

The news sent ripples through countries that are rich in natural resources that are extracted by foreign companies and rely on the revenues generated to sustain their economies and provide services to their citizens.

TT is one such country and questions are been asked about the impact of this development on the energy sector and the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) through which revenue payments to the Government are shared with the public in annual EITI reports (www.tteiti.org.tt/eiti- reports).

The impact on TT of Trump’s action will be negative, if only because it strikes a blow against the Government’s policy to bring increasing transparency and accountability to the local extractive sectors (oil, gas and quarrying) by its membership of the EITI since March 2011.

However, the blow is not fatal because the US Dodd-Frank Act that gave rise to the SE C disclosure rule that now has been repealed also gave birth to similar legislation and rules in the European Union’s 28 countries, Norway and Canada, which remain in force.

Therefore, most of the foreign companies that operate in TT ’s energy sector are currently subject to and complying with those disclosure requirements in other jurisdictions.

As voluntary participants in EITI reporting elsewhere and in TT , we can expect no lessening in those companies’ commitment to transparency and accountability and their support to the EITI reporting process.

In viewing this development, citizens must recognise that such an early removal of a key anti-corruption measure of the Barack Obama administration may reinforce the perception being voiced in America’s media that Trump may be soft on corruption as is further evidenced by many allegations of conflicts of interest facing his administration.

We should observe these developments with caution.

Victor Hart chair, TTEITI Steering Committee