Haiti Free Trade Agreements

NOTE: There is no commercial data for services provided with Haiti. With regard to its health and plant health measures (SPS), Haiti adopts the international standard of CODEX Alimentarius. Its national investigative body at the WTO is the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR). And its national agency for investigating technical measures of trade barriers (OBT) is the Ministry of Trade and Industry. There are mandatory technical requirements for coffee, under the control of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and for sanitary requirements, under the control of the hygiene code (1954). Technical regulations are similar to international standards (for coffee) and regional standards (for health requirements). To date, Haiti has not issued an SPS or TBT notification to the WTO. The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) remains an important part of U.S. economic relations with Haiti. The CBI aims to facilitate the development of stable economies in the Caribbean basin by allowing recipient countries to access the U.S. market duty-free for most products.

Approximately 3,500 Haitian export products can enter the United States duty-free under the CBI. Most textiles are excluded, with the exception of linen or silk textiles or handicrafts. Other excluded items are watches from watchmaking, crude oil and its by-products, prepared or preserved tuna, sugar, molasses, syrup, beef, spirits and shoes. Products must be shipped directly from Haiti to the United States to qualify for CBI preferences. Products may contain imported components as long as products exported to the United States are a new product that differs from these components and the cost of direct production of Haiti (including domestic raw materials and those from other CBI recipient countries, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) must be at least 35% of the customs value. U.S.-origin materials can be included up to a maximum of 15 percent of the customs value. Items assembled or processed from U.S. materials, components or ingredients have duty-free access to the United States, whether or not these items meet the 35% value-added test. On October 2, 2000, Haiti was designated as a beneficiary of the CBTPA.

Congress passed the CBTPA as part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. It should allow Caribbean and Central American nations to enter the U.S. market duty-free. CbTPA is expanding the CBI program by allowing duty- and quota-free treatment for imports of certain clothing from the region and by extending NAFTA-equivalent tariff treatment to a number of other products previously excluded from the CBI program. CBTPA expires on September 30, 2020.