European Union finance ministers on Tuesday adopted a blacklist of tax havens that includes 17 extra-EU jurisdictions seen as not cooperative on tax matters, and which includes five countries in the wider Caribbean: Barbados, Grenada, Panama, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Rounding out the list are American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Samoa, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. According to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, another 47 jurisdictions are included in a public “gray” list of countries that are currently not compliant with EU standards but have committed to change their tax rules. Following multiple disclosures of offshore tax avoidance schemes by companies and wealthy individuals, EU states launched a process in February to list tax havens in a bid to discourage setting up shell structures abroad, which are themselves in many cases legal but could hide illicit activities. Blacklisted countries could lose access to EU funds. Other possible countermeasures will be decided in coming weeks, Le Maire said.