Cafta-Dr
History
The Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement is usually called CAFTA-DR. It is a free trade agreement that includes the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua originally, and in 2004, the Dominican Republic joined the negotiations. Nearly all Central American exports to the United States were already tariff-free since the Caribbean Basin Initiative was first enacted in 1984. The agreement is a treaty under international law, but not under the United States Constitution because it does not have the approval from both houses; it is called a treaty when two-thirds of the Senate only approves the agreement. The Senate approved the CAFTA-DR on June 30, 2005, the United States House of Representatives approved the pact on July 28, 2005, and it was signed by President George W. Bush on August 2, 2005.
El Salvador put the agreement into effect on March 1, 2006, and was closely followed a month later by Honduras and Nicaragua. Guatemala made the agreement effect July 1, 2006 and the Dominican Republic implemented a year after El Salvador on March 1, 2007. The last to make the agreement effective was Costa Rica, and that happened on January 1, 2009.
Growth
Purpose
CAFTA-DR was designed to be much like NAFTA, and can be a groundbreaker in the efforts toward making the FTAA, which is in the works. IT will include all of the South American and Caribbean nations as well as those of North and Central America except Cuba, who which we have an embargo with. This agreement can be groundbreaking for a similar treaty with Canada.
If passed by the countries involved, tariffs on about 80 percent of US exports to the participating countries will be eliminated immediately and the rest will be phased out over the subsequent decade. As a result, CAFTA-DR does not require substantial reductions in US import duties with respect to the other countries, as the vast majority of goods
The Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement is usually called CAFTA-DR. It is a free trade agreement that includes the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua originally, and in 2004, the Dominican Republic joined the negotiations. Nearly all Central American exports to the United States were already tariff-free since the Caribbean Basin Initiative was first enacted in 1984. The agreement is a treaty under international law, but not under the United States Constitution because it does not have the approval from both houses; it is called a treaty when two-thirds of the Senate only approves the agreement. The Senate approved the CAFTA-DR on June 30, 2005, the United States House of Representatives approved the pact on July 28, 2005, and it was signed by President George W. Bush on August 2, 2005.
El Salvador put the agreement into effect on March 1, 2006, and was closely followed a month later by Honduras and Nicaragua. Guatemala made the agreement effect July 1, 2006 and the Dominican Republic implemented a year after El Salvador on March 1, 2007. The last to make the agreement effective was Costa Rica, and that happened on January 1, 2009.
Growth
Purpose
CAFTA-DR was designed to be much like NAFTA, and can be a groundbreaker in the efforts toward making the FTAA, which is in the works. IT will include all of the South American and Caribbean nations as well as those of North and Central America except Cuba, who which we have an embargo with. This agreement can be groundbreaking for a similar treaty with Canada.
If passed by the countries involved, tariffs on about 80 percent of US exports to the participating countries will be eliminated immediately and the rest will be phased out over the subsequent decade. As a result, CAFTA-DR does not require substantial reductions in US import duties with respect to the other countries, as the vast majority of goods