The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released its latest biennial report on the operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, which describes the main features of the Caribbean Basin Initiative program, analyzes trade trends, and outlines each country’s performance with respect to the program’s eligibility criteria. Highlights from this report include the following.
- U.S. imports under CBI tariff preferences increased to $1.9 billion in 2022 from $1.4 billion in 2021 and $1.2 billion in 2020.
- The value of total U.S. exports to CBI countries amounted to $18.4 billion in 2022, a 43.6 percent increase from the previous year, which itself saw a 15.1 percent increase from 2020.
- Collectively, the CBI region ranked 21st among U.S. export destinations in 2022 and absorbed 1.1 percent of total U.S. exports to the world.
- The CBI continues to have a positive impact on a number of Caribbean Basin economies, including by encouraging the development of niche product manufacturing.
- There have been notable improvements in the last few years in utilization of CBI duty-free benefits, including an increase from 28 percent to 100 percent for electrical transformers from Haiti and an increase from 60 percent to 87.7 percent for margarine from Trinidad and Tobago.
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