Agriculture employs about 10 percent of the labor force. The most important commercial crop is sugarcane. Cacao, coconuts, citrus fruits, tonka beans, vegetables, rubber trees, and coffee are also cultivated. The chief products of Tobago are cacao, copra, coconuts, livestock, poultry, and limes. Tourism is important to the economy and is a leading source of foreign exchange.
Crude petroleum is imported for refining.
According to the constitution of 1976, Trinidad and Tobago is a republic. The constitution provides for a president and a bicameral legislature, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives. The president is elected by an electoral college of members of both houses of the legislature. The house of representatives has 36 members, popularly elected to five-year terms. The 31 members of the senate are appointed by the president.