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USVI Governor Albert Bryan Jr on how tariffs have impacted the islands · The Financial Exchange Show

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  Speaker 1: Joining us now is the Governor of the United States
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  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands, Albert Brian. Governor, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining us today. Appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you talk for having me. It's great to be
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  Speaker 2: on the show all the time to talk about what's
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  Speaker 2: going on in the Virgin Islands and what we expect
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  Speaker 2: to see for the upcoming season.
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  Speaker 1: So, Governor, we reached freezing temperatures here this morning, and
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  Speaker 1: we will be for the next several months. I'll allow
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  Speaker 1: you to I'll allow you to boast about your weather
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  Speaker 1: down there eventually, but I actually want to start on
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  Speaker 1: a different subject, which is the state of the government
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  Speaker 1: down in the Virgin Islands. You know up here much
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  Speaker 1: more in the twenty tens was discussed about Puerto Rico's
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  Speaker 1: fiscal situation and the struggles that they had and kind
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  Speaker 1: of overshadowed what was happening in the Virgin Islands in
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  Speaker 1: the late twenty tens. Can you talk to us about
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  Speaker 1: where the territory was at the end of the twenty
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  Speaker 1: ten decade and just where you see it's come over
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  Speaker 1: the course of the last several years.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we were in a really bad place.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm much like Puerto Rico. Often when I go
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  Speaker 2: to the Senate, I have been trying to get a
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  Speaker 2: bill poss that would allow the treasury to back all
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  Speaker 2: our bonds. I mean, it's one simple thing that they
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  Speaker 2: could do in order to shore up. But in twenty ten,
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  Speaker 2: we were facing an energy crisis, we could go to
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  Speaker 2: the markets, mainly because we hadn't completed our audits. We
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  Speaker 2: kind of topped out during the Great Recession. Trying to
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  Speaker 2: just keep the government alive. Is you know, thirty percent
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  Speaker 2: of our population and our workforce works for the government,
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  Speaker 2: and probably another fifteen to twenty percent the total population
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  Speaker 2: is affected by that in terms of whether it's a
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  Speaker 2: spouse or a husband, kids on the support, insurance programs
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  Speaker 2: and whatnot. Also facing us in twenty twelve, we had
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  Speaker 2: the shutdown of the hess Oil or the Ventsa as
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  Speaker 2: people come and lyn it. It's the third largest refinery
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  Speaker 2: in the Western Hemisphere, so it really impacted us. We
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  Speaker 2: lost like twenty percent of our employment overnight. So when
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  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico was going through petebase, so we had to
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  Speaker 2: really fight. I'm saying Petibasa Petivesa on the takeover. We
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  Speaker 2: really had to fight not to be included in a
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  Speaker 2: lot of those bills that Puerto Rico still hasn't really
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  Speaker 2: gotten out of as yet.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't seem to benefit Puerto Rico all that much.
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  Speaker 2: So since then, we've been me Coming to office in
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  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, for sure, was about solidifying our finances, making
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  Speaker 2: sure that the Virgin Islands was able to meet its bills,
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  Speaker 2: meet its payrolls and also to expand. And since that
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  Speaker 2: time we've been doing incredibly well.
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  Speaker 3: I have to say.
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  Speaker 2: We had two major hurricanes, two catfires, back to back
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  Speaker 2: within a month in twenty seventeen, and that caused us
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  Speaker 2: a lot of distress, grief, but it also brought a
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  Speaker 2: lot of opportunity in terms of money. When we started
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  Speaker 2: doing the recovery from this hurricane was under Governor mop
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  Speaker 2: it was about eight billion that we thought we would
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  Speaker 2: recover in damages. We're up to twenty four billion at
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  Speaker 2: the point under a major recovery here in the Islands.
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  Speaker 1: So talk to me about the most recent fiscal year.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what was the success, what is still being
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  Speaker 1: worked down at the government level, and what is the
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  Speaker 1: state of the territories today.
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  Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that really hampered us in
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  Speaker 2: the last year was well the last four years is
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  Speaker 2: we get a tox extender called the Rum cover over
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  Speaker 2: and it takes our ten fifty So every proof gallon
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  Speaker 2: of rum we shipped to the United States, we get
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  Speaker 2: back ten fifty of the excise tax. There was a
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  Speaker 2: tax extendard that had been extended multiple times that allowed
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  Speaker 2: us to get three thirteen twenty five. It carried the
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  Speaker 2: amount of the tax we got per proof gallon from
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  Speaker 2: ten twenty five, from ten fifty, sorry to thirteen twenty five.
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  Speaker 3: We had been trying to.
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  Speaker 2: Get this solidified for a long time. This year under
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  Speaker 2: the bipartisan budget at the Big Beautiful Bill, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 2: we were successful in getting its solid so now forever
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  Speaker 2: that thirteen fifty is going to come.
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  Speaker 3: Back to the virginis.
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  Speaker 2: The big part about that is is it solidified our
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  Speaker 2: pension system, which is arguably was arguably the worst in
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  Speaker 2: the country. We've now funded that pension system using that.
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  Speaker 2: So every single year we've been moving along, we've been
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  Speaker 2: making tremendous strides. That was a big one for this year.
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  Speaker 2: I think we also during the last administration, we got
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  Speaker 2: our match for this twenty four billion reduced from ten
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  Speaker 2: percent to two percent under the Biden administration, so that
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  Speaker 2: was big for US as well. Coming into President Trump.
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  Speaker 2: The good news is the Virgin Islands is not affected
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  Speaker 2: by any of the Trump tarffs.
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  Speaker 3: So see that surprised.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I would think by necessity the territories have
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  Speaker 1: to import a lot of stuff, but I guess the
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  Speaker 1: answer is that it's coming from either within the United
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  Speaker 1: States rather than and importing a whole lot from overseas.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean ninety percent of everything we get
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  Speaker 2: comes from the US mainline, we would never be able
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  Speaker 2: to sustain the amount of people on such a small
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  Speaker 2: island just from beginning for beginners, but then we get
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  Speaker 2: a large tourism economy that's on fire, and that all
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  Speaker 2: the liquor is imported and everything else or to service
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  Speaker 2: those needs as well. So not being affected by these
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  Speaker 2: twists have been kind of like going all over the
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  Speaker 2: place saying, hey, you can import your stuff into the
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  Speaker 2: Virgin Islands. We have a free trade zone and not
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  Speaker 2: pay the Trump tarras. And if you have thirty percent
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  Speaker 2: in value, danny becomes a US made product and it
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  Speaker 2: can go into the United States taro free. So we've
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  Speaker 2: been getting a lot of calls about our free trade
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  Speaker 2: zone in sync Court, specifically where we have a deep
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  Speaker 2: water port, and the ability to extend tax benefits on
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  Speaker 2: top of that. So you get one hundred percent reduction
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  Speaker 2: of your state taxes and ninety percent reduction of your
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  Speaker 2: federal income taxes.
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  Speaker 3: So it's kind of like no tariff, no tox.
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  Speaker 2: It's a supercondition for charging our industrial sector, a light
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  Speaker 2: industry sector here in the island. So I'm doing a
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  Speaker 2: lot of worker I'm not.
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  Speaker 1: Governor on that on that subject, if you don't mind,
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  Speaker 1: So I'm sure the first very question is about those
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  Speaker 1: potential tax benefits and how it all works into the tariffs.
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine the second question has to be about
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  Speaker 1: infrastructure and what companies are used to versus what the
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  Speaker 1: Virgin Island has been focusing on developing. What is you know,
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  Speaker 1: what do you see as the biggest infrastructure accomplishments, say
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  Speaker 1: in future projects that need to be accomplished to continue
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  Speaker 1: to drive growth there.
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  Speaker 2: So so just to get just to kind of picture
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  Speaker 2: what we're talking about here, our entire economy is about
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  Speaker 2: four billion dollars this year. We have already issued six
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  Speaker 2: billion in contracts. We already had a billion out and
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  Speaker 2: by the end of the year we would have issued
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  Speaker 2: eight billion in contracts. That means new schools, new hospital,
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  Speaker 2: all new underground water sewer electric. We're putting in two
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  Speaker 2: new power plants Saint Croix in this last year. The
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  Speaker 2: second solar farm we opened up Saint Croix peaks at
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  Speaker 2: forty four megawatts. We have thirty five megawats of solar
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  Speaker 2: pound for pound, we have the most solar per capita
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  Speaker 2: in the world. We're about to open two more plants,
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  Speaker 2: one in Saint Thomas on the west end and one
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  Speaker 2: on the East end, which will also bolster the solar
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  Speaker 2: generating power of that island as well too. So my
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  Speaker 2: race is to get a power down to put in.
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  Speaker 2: Contracts have now been let for most of Saint Croix
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  Speaker 2: underground water sewer, Saint Thomas's on the way as well,
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  Speaker 2: and we're getting two new essentially two new power plants
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  Speaker 2: in Saint Thomas. The sides of Solo that we've installed,
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  Speaker 2: we're putting in much more efficient generators, trying to drive
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  Speaker 2: down the cost of.
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  Speaker 3: Energy so governa.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, tourism is always a big focus for the Virgin Islands.
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  Speaker 1: What else is at the top of your list for
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six in terms of priorities.
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  Speaker 2: So we got this year. We opened up the first
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  Speaker 2: hotel in thirty five years. Hampton is right on the
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  Speaker 2: beautiful wayco Doc in downtown Saint Thomas Salad Amali, and
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  Speaker 2: we're working on a deal where ownership of the Premier
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  Speaker 2: Frenchman's Reef, another hotel, will revert back to the Virgin
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  Speaker 2: Islands government courtesy of our Hotel Development OX. So we've
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  Speaker 2: been finally started building and renovating our hotels because we
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  Speaker 2: have a law that says you can take the hotel
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  Speaker 2: room tax, which is at about fourteen percent, increase it
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  Speaker 2: by seven points so that you can actually take the
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  Speaker 2: twenty one percent room tax and ref rehab.
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  Speaker 3: Or build a new hotels.
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  Speaker 2: So we've been getting a lot of track film hoteliers
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  Speaker 2: using that in order to finance building all these new developments.
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  Speaker 2: So that is really there. And then for twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: I leave office in January twenty seventh. So my race
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  Speaker 2: now is getting a power plant and getting energy in
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  Speaker 2: the right place that if we get our power, our
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  Speaker 2: energy down to about twenty something since in the industrial
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  Speaker 2: power I'm trying to be able to give it at
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  Speaker 2: twelve cents. Couple with a tariff break on the tax
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  Speaker 2: initiatives that we have, I really think we could put
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  Speaker 2: more fire in our economy. So that's what I'm really
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  Speaker 2: focused on.
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  Speaker 1: Governor Albert Bryan of the United States Version Iiles joined
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  Speaker 1: us today talk about the state of the Virgin Island,
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  Speaker 1: state of the economy there, and economic development. Governor, really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on as always and looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: chatting with you again and as we had in the
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  Speaker 1: last couple months of the year here fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: Can have a sunny Virgin Islands that hate that code
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  Speaker 2: for you, but it's good for me.
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  Speaker 3: Come down. Thank you. Governor