Trinidad and Tobago and Its Neighbours in the Caribbean

GUIDES · TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

A gas exporter seven miles from Venezuela, a CARICOM founder and a close US security partner. This is how Trinidad and Tobago deals with its neighbours.

The Trinidad and Tobago neighbourhood is small on the map but heavy in consequence. Venezuela lies seven miles off its south-west coast, Grenada and Barbados to the north and east, and oil-rich Guyana to the south-east.

For a US reader, these neighbours shape gas supply, migration and how far Port of Spain backs Washington in the Caribbean.

Where Trinidad and Tobago Sits

Trinidad and Tobago is two islands at the point where the Caribbean island arc meets South America. Trinidad, the large industrial island, holds the capital, Port of Spain, and the oil and gas industry.

Tobago, smaller and greener, lies about 21 miles to the north-east.

The closest neighbour is not an island but a continent. At its nearest point, Trinidad is about seven miles (11 km) from Venezuela, says the guide Discover Trinidad and Tobago.

The Gulf of Paria separates Trinidad’s west coast from the Venezuelan mainland, and the Bocas islands guard its northern entrance.

That geography explains most of what follows. The same gas-bearing rocks run under the sea border with Venezuela.

Boats, migrants, fish, oil spills and smuggled goods all cross the same narrow waters.

Size frames every relationship. The World Bank counted 1,367,764 people in Trinidad and Tobago in 2025, against 28.5 million in Venezuela.

Guyana had 835,986, Barbados 282,623 and Grenada 117,303. Economic output was about US$25.9 billion in 2025, just behind Guyana’s US$27.1 billion after that country’s oil boom.

Sea Borders Drawn by Treaty and Arbitration

Trinidad and Tobago has no land border, but it has settled most of its sea lines on paper. The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea lists a first-phase agreement with Venezuela of 4 August 1989.

A full treaty on marine and submarine areas followed on 18 April 1990 and entered into force on 23 July 1991.

The line with Barbados was not negotiated but imposed. The two neighbours failed to agree, so a tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea decided.

It delivered its award on 11 April 2006. The case is a reminder that even close CARICOM partners can clash over sea and seabed rights.

To the north, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada signed a sea-border treaty in Port of Spain on 21 April 2010. It is registered in the UN Treaty Series.

The country also filed a claim to continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles with the UN commission on 12 May 2009.

Venezuela, From Rupture to Reset

No relationship matters more, and none has swung so sharply. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar leads the United National Congress (UNC) government, in office since 2025.

In 2025 she backed the US military build-up against drug trafficking in the Caribbean. In October 2025, Venezuela’s National Assembly declared her persona non grata and barred her from entering the country.

Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s long-time leader, was later removed by US military action. He is held in the United States on charges including drug smuggling, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Delcy Rodríguez, his former vice-president, leads the government in Caracas as acting President. Port of Spain moved quickly to rebuild ties with her.

In early September 2026, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers went to Caracas. He and his Venezuelan counterpart agreed a roadmap covering energy, trade and security.

On 23 September 2026, Persad-Bissessar and Rodríguez met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

A joint statement after that meeting said Caracas considered the prime minister persona grata. Both leaders agreed to pay official visits to each other’s capitals.

Their agenda lists trade, energy, security, tourism and air connectivity. No dates for the visits were announced.

Practical cooperation had already restarted at a technical level. On 22 May 2026, officials from both countries met over a reported oil spill.

The leak was at a riser platform in the Main Soldado field, Gulf of Paria. Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal proposed a joint working committee and renewed talks on a bilateral oil spill contingency plan.

Migration is the human side of the relationship. The UN-led regional platform for Venezuelan refugees and migrants projected 35,702 Venezuelans in Trinidad and Tobago for 2025.

Its figures are dated December 2024. No newer official count was available as of October 2026.

The Dragon Field and Cross-Border Gas

Gas is the reason Venezuela matters so much to the Trinidad and Tobago neighbourhood. Trinidad’s liquefied natural gas plants and its ammonia and methanol industry need more gas than its own maturing fields now supply.

The nearest large untapped reserves sit across the 1990 sea border in Venezuelan waters.

The best known is the Dragon field. The National Gas Company (NGC), Trinidad and Tobago’s state gas firm, said a licence was signed in Caracas on 21 December 2023.

It gave NGC, with Shell, a participating interest in the field’s upstream development, under Venezuela’s petroleum ministry.

US sanctions were the main barrier. In February 2026 the US Treasury issued General Licences 49 and 50, the Trinidad Express reported.

General Licence 50 lets major firms, including Shell and BP, resume oil and gas work in Venezuela. Royalties and taxes go into a US-controlled fund.

In February 2026, Shell chief executive Wael Sawan said he hoped to produce Dragon gas within three years. It would be processed in Trinidad and Tobago for export.

Other cross-border fields, such as Manakin-Cocuina, where BP holds an interest, depend on the same political thaw.

Guyana, Grenada and Barbados

Guyana is both a market and a rival. In 2021, Guyana was the second-largest market for Trinidad and Tobago’s exports, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in 2023.

Trinidad and Tobago ran a trade surplus with Guyana in every year from 2018 to 2022.

The balance is shifting. Guyana’s offshore oil has lifted its economy past Trinidad and Tobago’s, according to World Bank data for 2025.

Guyana’s output grew about 10 percent in dollar terms in 2025, against about 1 percent for Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad’s firms now compete to supply that faster-growing market.

Grenada, to the north, is tied to Trinidad by family, music and the 2010 sea-border treaty. The calypso star Slinger Francisco, the Mighty Sparrow, was born in Grenada in 1935 and moved to Trinidad as a young child.

His death in New York in September 2026, at 91, was mourned in both countries.

Barbados is the partner with the longest legal history. The 2006 arbitration settled the sea line between the two states.

Both remain full members of CARICOM and work together in its institutions, even when their leaders disagree on regional policy.

CARICOM, Courts and Where Port of Spain Leads

Trinidad and Tobago helped found the Caribbean Community. Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas, named after a peninsula west of Port of Spain.

It came into effect on 1 August 1973, according to the CARICOM Secretariat.

Port of Spain still hosts key regional bodies. The Caribbean Court of Justice was inaugurated there in 2005, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency is based there.

Yet only Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana and Saint Lucia use the court as their final court of appeal.

Under Persad-Bissessar, the country has also broken with CARICOM’s common line. In October 2025 she said that “in TT there is clearly no zone of peace”, rejecting a regional slogan.

In a November 2025 interview she said it was “only a matter of time before Caricom implodes”, Newsday reported.

The opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), in power until 2025, filed a motion to reaffirm the country’s commitment to CARICOM. Trinidad and Tobago leads the region in trade and institutions.

On security, it follows Washington more closely than most neighbours.

The United States as Security Partner

The United States is the neighbour that is not next door but shapes everything. The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely visited Port of Spain from 26 to 30 October 2025, Newsday reported.

US Marines trained with the local Defence Force.

In November 2025, the prime minister said US Marines were helping at Tobago’s Arthur NR Robinson International Airport. The plan, she said, was “the runway and a radar”.

She added that “Trinidad has not been asked to be a base for any war against Venezuela.”

The ties extend to energy and investment. On 27 July 2026, Moonilal met US Chargé d’Affaires Philip Kern, who called the moment unique in the history of bilateral relations.

Their talks covered energy security and memoranda for proposed data centres and a steel plant.

What It Means for US Readers

For investors, the neighbourhood decides whether Trinidad’s gas plants run full. From January to August 2026, US goods exports to the country reached US$2.44 billion and imports US$2.10 billion (US Census Bureau).

Ammonia, LNG and methanol supply to US buyers depends on Venezuelan gas arriving on time.

For travellers, the islands remain an English-speaking destination with Carnival and Tobago’s beaches. The Venezuelan coast is close enough that maritime security, migrant boats and smuggling stay on the government’s agenda.

Visitors should follow official US travel advice before booking.

For expats and companies, Port of Spain is a regional base with courts, health agencies and shipping links. The political risk is that its alignment with Washington and its reset with Caracas must both hold at once.

What Is Not Known

No date has been set for the official visits agreed in September 2026. No new gas supply contract with Venezuela has been published.

Shell’s three-year target for Dragon gas is an aim, not a schedule.

It is unclear how long US licences for Venezuelan energy will stay in place, or how revenue rules will work in practice. There is no recent official count of Venezuelans living in Trinidad and Tobago.

It is also open whether the split with other CARICOM governments over US security policy will deepen or fade.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which countries are Trinidad and Tobago’s neighbours?

Its closest neighbour is Venezuela, about seven miles from Trinidad at the nearest point. Grenada lies to the north, Barbados to the north-east and Guyana to the south-east. All borders are at sea.

Has Trinidad and Tobago settled its sea borders?

Mostly. It signed treaties with Venezuela on 18 April 1990 and with Grenada on 21 April 2010. The line with Barbados was set by an arbitral tribunal on 11 April 2006.

What is the Dragon gas field?

Dragon is a gas field in Venezuelan waters near the sea border. A licence signed on 21 December 2023 gave the National Gas Company, with Shell, an interest in developing it. The gas is meant for processing in Trinidad and Tobago.

What is the state of relations with Venezuela?

Relations broke down in October 2025, when Venezuela’s National Assembly declared Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar persona non grata. On 23 September 2026 she met acting President Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and Caracas declared her persona grata.

What role does Trinidad and Tobago play in CARICOM?

It was one of four founding signatories of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, in effect from 1 August 1973. Port of Spain hosts the Caribbean Court of Justice and the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

How much does the United States trade with Trinidad and Tobago?

US goods exports to the country were US$3.12 billion in 2025 and imports US$2.68 billion (US Census Bureau).

Sources: UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Trinidad and Tobago (https://www.un.org/depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/STATEFILES/TTO.htm); UN Treaty Series No. 47548 (https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210565660s001-c002); World Bank population and GDP data (https://data.worldbank.org/country/trinidad-and-tobago); US Census Bureau, trade with Trinidad and Tobago (https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2740.html); Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs (https://foreign.gov.tt/); Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, spill cooperation (https://www.energy.gov.tt/venezuela-and-trinidad-and-tobago-strengthen-cooperation-on-spill-concerns/); Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, US meeting (https://www.energy.gov.tt/energy-ministers-meet-with-united-states-charge-daffaires/); NGC, Dragon licence (https://media.ngc.co.tt/ngc-dragon-field-licence); Ministry of Trade and Industry (https://tradeind.gov.tt/mti-congratulates-ttma-trade-mission-to-guyana/); CARICOM Secretariat (https://caricom.org/history-of-the-caribbean-community/); Caribbean Court of Justice (https://ccj.org/about-the-ccj/); CARPHA (https://carpha.org/Who-We-Are/About); UN-led regional platform for Venezuelan refugees and migrants (https://r4v.info/en/caribbean); Jamaica Observer (https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2026/09/23/venezuela-declare-tdad-pm-persona-grata/); Trinidad Express (US licences) (https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/us-clears-shell-bp-for-venezuela/article_e66f86c4-5a00-46f5-8d90-bc1df70dd95b.html); Trinidad Express (Dragon timing) (https://trinidadexpress.com/business/local/shell-sees-dragon-gas-flowing-to-t-t-in-3-years/article_4b7158b1-f878-4229-acdf-f45175b244ec.html); Newsday (zone of peace) (https://newsday.co.tt/2025/10/26/pm-trinidad-and-tobago-not-in-zone-of-peace-welcomes-us-help-crushing-narco-traffickers/); Newsday (Tobago radar) (https://newsday.co.tt/2025/11/27/pm-us-marines-improving-radar-surveillance-in-tobago/); Jamaica Gleaner (https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260927/calypso-icon-mighty-sparrow-dies-91); Discover Trinidad and Tobago (https://www.discovertnt.com/articles/Trinidad-Tobago-Lay-of-Both-Lands). All accessed 13 October 2026.