The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) continues to have a small effect on the overall U.S. economy but provides a positive benefit to participating countries, according to a new report released today, Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act: Impact on U.S. Industries and Consumers and on Beneficiary Countries, Twenty-Seventh Report, 2023–24, published by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).
The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, today issued its 27th biennial report monitoring U.S. imports under the CBERA program. CBERA took effect on January 1, 1984, and offers preferential tariff treatment to most products of the 17 designated beneficiary countries in the Caribbean.
The publication covers the impact of CBERA, as modified by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act of 2000 (CBTPA) and the HOPE and HELP Acts, on the United States, with emphasis on 2023 and 2024. CBERA requires the USITC to prepare a report every two years that assesses both the actual and the probable future effect of the CBERA program on the U.S. economy generally and on U.S. imports, industries, and consumers. The report also covers the impact of the preference program on the beneficiary countries.
The following are highlights from the latest report:
The overall effect of imports under the CBERA program on the U.S. economy generally and on U.S. imports, industries, and consumers continued to be small in 2023–24. For U.S. industries, the overall effect of the program on domestic production, employment, and operating profits was also small. The USITC identified two U.S. industries—methanol and T-shirts—that most likely have faced slight negative effects due to competition from CBERA imports. However, the estimated job losses in these two industries were outweighed by small increases in exports by U.S. yarn and fabric industries, whose products are used in the manufacture of apparel in Haiti.
U.S. imports receiving preferential treatment under CBERA totaled $1.8 billion in 2024, a notable decline of 34.5 percent from $2.8 billion in 2022.
The decline in imports under the program from 2022 to 2024 is attributed to reduced imports of textiles and apparel from Haiti; other mining and manufactured products, including methanol, from Trinidad and Tobago; and crude oil from Guyana.
