The overall effect of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) on the U.S. economy generally, and U.S. imports, industries, and consumers continues to be negligible, while the effect on beneficiary countries is small but 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-fifth Report, 2019-20.
The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, recently issued its 25th 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 countries 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 year 2020. 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 negligible in 2020. For U.S. industries in particular, the overall effect of the program on domestic production, employment, and operating profits was also negligible. 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 $1.7 billion in 2020, a decline of 4.8 percent from $1.8 billion in 2019.
The value of U.S. imports under CBERA increased between 2016 and 2018 but decreased in both 2019 and 2020.
The change in 2020 was driven primarily by decreasing imports of apparel, which accounted for 43.1 percent of total U.S. imports under CBERA. Apparel, supplied mainly by Haiti, decreased by 25.6 percent from $978 million in 2019 to $728 million in 2020, with cotton T-shirts comprising 41.7 percent of those imports. Read More→
https://www.usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2021/er0930ll1829.htm
