Foreign ownership of companies is permitted and welcomed under the Foreign Investment Act (1990). Among U.S. companies operating in Trinidad & Tobago are a commercial bank, several air-courier services, three airlines, and one insurance company. U.S. companies have interests in two electric power companies, a number of oil and gas operations, petrochemical plants, and a desalination plant. Other U.S. investors are presently in negotiations with the T&T government to build an aluminum smelter and plants for manufacture of petrochemicals and iron and steel, as well as a US$100 million gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant. The T&T Government has said it is no longer interested in ammonia and methanol plants (T&T already has 11 ammonia plants and seven methanol plants) and will focus instead on downstream industries such as Adhesives, Asphalt Products, Cosmetics, Paints, Plastics, Industrial Chemicals, Industrial Gases, Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Feedstock Chemicals.

The GOTT generally only gets involved in foreign investments when the investor is seeking government incentives or concessions such as tax holidays, duty-free imports of equipment and materials, or exemption from VAT on inputs. The government also becomes involved when an investor wishes to lease land in one of the government-owned industrial parks, and when a planned activity requires a license, such as mining or drilling. Nationals and non-nationals are generally treated equally with respect to obtaining licenses. Bureaucratic delays in approval of investment packages can be frustrating for investors. These generally are the result of negotiations for memorandums of understanding or framework agreements and incentives or, in the case of petrochemical investors, negotiations for favorable natural gas prices. Environmental approval for large industrial projects can also be time consuming, and many projects begin with only outline approval.

In general, Trinidad & Tobago has seen a trend towards privatization of key sectors since the 1990s. Some sectors that have undergone privatization include electrical power generation and the postal service. Some others have been transformed. Caroni (1975) Ltd., a sugar producer, was closed in 2003 and was replaced by Sugar Manufacturing Company Ltd (SMCL). Sugar shortages experienced by food and confectionary manufacturers in 2005 have demonstrated that SMCL is not meeting industry or consumer demands, and that increased imports of refined sugar will be necessary in coming years.

The T&T government has been seeking a private-sector investor for the cargo-handling operations of the Port Authority of Trinidad & Tobago (PATT), as well as private sector management contractors for certain business units of PATT, including Destination Trinidad & Tobago Limited (The cruise shipping business unit), Trinidad & Tobago Inter-Island Company Limited (the ferry service), the port of Port of Spain Company Limited (infrastructure company), the port of Scarborough, Marine Operations and the CARICOM Wharves. Steps are also being taken to sell the assets of Trinidad & Tobago Forest Products Limited (Tanteak) to the private sector.