The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA-DR) was approved by the U.S. Congress in July 2005. The President signed the implementation legislation on August 2, 2005. The Agreement entered first into force with El Salvador on March 1, 2006 followed by Honduras and Nicaragua on April 1, 2006, Guatemala on July 1, 2006, and the Dominican Republic on March 1, 2007 and Costa Rica on January 1, 2009. This Multilateral Agreement is now fully in force.
CAFTA-DR represents the third largest export market in Latin America for the United States right behind from Brazil and Mexico and the 14th largest export market in the world. The Free Trade Agreement provides new and greater market access for U.S. consumer and industrial products and agricultural products. It also provides a reduction on tariffs, protection for U.S. investments in the region, strengthens protection for U.S. patents, trademarks and more.
The U.S. Department of Commerce monitors this Agreement to ensure that the CAFTA-DR signatory-partner countries fully comply with their obligations. If you encounter problems under the CAFTA-DR, please contact our Agreements Compliance office.
For further information regarding CAFTA-DR, and how to declare the Origin of U.S. products, please visit: http://www.export.gov/FTA/cafta-dr/index.asp
For CAFTA-DR final texts:
