The overall effect of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) on the U.S. economy generally, and U.S. imports, industries, and consumers is small, while the effect on beneficiary countries is positive, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its publication Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act: Impact on U.S. Industries and Consumers and on Beneficiary Countries, Twenty-Sixth Report, 2021-22.
The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, recently issued its 26th biennial report monitoring U.S. imports under CBERA. The CBERA program, operative since January 1, 1984, affords preferential tariff treatment to most products of the 17 designated Caribbean beneficiaries that received CBERA benefits during the period covered in the report.
The latest USITC report 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 particular emphasis on calendar years 2021 and 2022. CBERA requires the USITC to prepare a biennial report assessing both the actual and the probable future effect of CBERA on the U.S. economy generally, on U.S. imports, industries, and on U.S. 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 CBERA imports on the U.S. economy generally and on U.S. imports, industries, and consumers continued to be small in 2021–22. For U.S. industries in particular, 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 small negative effects due to competition from CBERA imports.
U.S. imports receiving preferential treatment under CBERA totaled $2.6 billion in 2022, a significant increase of 44.7 percent from $1.8 billion in 2020, when import values were lower due to COVID-19.
The increase in 2021 was driven primarily by increasing imports of textiles and apparel (an increase of $256 million or 34.6 percent), mostly from Haiti, while the increase in 2022 was driven by methanol and energy products (an increase of $384 million or 43.7 percent), mostly from Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Read More→
https://www.usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2023/er0908_64298.htm
