Dominican Republic Integrated into CAFTA

WASHINGTON - Mar 15/04 - SNS -- Efforts to integrate the Dominican Republic into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have been concluded, with the country assuming the same set of obligations and commitments as Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

Under the agreement, the United States Trade Representative's office (USTR) said 80% of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial goods will become duty-free in the Dominican Republic immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over 10 years.

More than half of current U.S. farm exports to the Dominican Republic will become duty-free immediately, including corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans, many fruits and vegetables, and processed food products. Tariffs on most U.S. farm products will be phased out within 15 years, with all tariffs eliminated by 20 years. Duty-free access under tariff-rate quotas will be established for U.S. beef, pork, poultry, rice and dairy products.

Both countries also agreed to work to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to agricultural trade, in particular problems and delays in food inspection procedures for meat and poultry.

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