CAFTA Resources
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| Bush Speaking in the Rose Garden |
"CAFTA brings benefits to all sides. For the newly emerging democracies of Central America, CAFTA would bring new investment that means good jobs and higher labor standards for their workers. Central American consumers would have better access to more U.S. goods at better prices. And by passing this agreement, we would signal that the world's leading trading nation was committed to a closer partnership with countries in our own backyard, countries which share our values. "
~ President Bush, The Rose Garden
May 12, 2005
Of the three great "nexus events" happening in Honduras right now - the initiation of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, forgiveness of much of Honduras' once crushing debt load, and the implementation of CAFTA - the Central American treaty may pose the best opportunity of them all. The Dominican Republic and five Central American countries that have signed CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) with the United States could boost their combined exports to the United States by as much as 28 percent after implementation, especially in textiles, clothing and processed crops, according to a new IMF report. The U.S. International Trade Commission has previously estimated a 12.5 percent increase after the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is fully implemented.
"Mexico's experience under NAFTA suggests that trade flows between the Central American countries and the United States could increase rapidly after the inception of CAFTA-DR," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) points out in a new report, Central America: Global Integration and Regional Cooperation.
CAFTA, also known as DR-CAFTA or CAFTA-DR, will immediately reduce tariffs on all nonagricultural and nontextile exports from the CAFTA countries to the United States. About 80 percent of U.S. nonagricultural and nontextile exports from the United States will be reduced. Tariffs on all other goods will be phased out gradually over a 5- to 20-year period.
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