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2019 Report to Congress on the Operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery

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2019 Report to Congress on the Operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Thirteenth Report to Congress on the Operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act United States Trade Representative December 31, 2019 This report was prepared by: Project Leader Magaly Clavijo García Contributors USTR Functional Offices and the Office of General Counsel State Department Economic Officers at U.S. Embassies in the Caribbean and Central America Project Assistants Isabelle Janssen, Daniel Juliao, and James Tawney Under the direction of John Melle, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Western Hemisphere Table of Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms ..................................................................................................... iii Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... v Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 8 I. Description of Caribbean Basin Initiative ............................................................................. 11 Key Product Eligibility Provisions ................................................................................ 11 Beneficiary Countries .................................................................................................... 15 Safeguard Provisions ..................................................................................................... 17 Rum Provisions .............................................................................................................. 17 Tax Provisions ............................................................................................................... 17 Reports ........................................................................................................................... 18 Meetings with Caribbean Basin Trade Ministers .......................................................... 19 Other Provisions ............................................................................................................ 19 II. U.S. Trade in Goods with CBI Countries ............................................................................ 20 U.S. Imports ................................................................................................................... 20 CBI Tariff Preferences: Top Sources of U.S. Imports .................................................. 22 U.S. Exports ................................................................................................................... 23 III. Utilization Potential ............................................................................................................ 25 Utilization Gap ............................................................................................................... 25 Highlights of products from the Caribbean traded with the United States .................... 26 IV. Eligibility Criteria ………………………………………………………………...............29 CBERA “Mandatory” Criteria ....................................................................................... 29 CBERA “Discretionary” Factors ................................................................................... 31 CBTPA Eligibility Criteria ............................................................................................ 32 V. Country Reports: Compliance with Eligibility Criteria ....................................................... 34 Antigua and Barbuda ..................................................................................................... 34 Aruba ............................................................................................................................. 39 The Bahamas ................................................................................................................. 42 Barbados ........................................................................................................................ 45 Belize ............................................................................................................................. 48 British Virgin Islands ..................................................................................................... 52 Curaçao .......................................................................................................................... 55 Dominica ........................................................................................................................ 58 Grenada .......................................................................................................................... 60 Guyana ........................................................................................................................... 65 Haiti ............................................................................................................................... 70 Jamaica .......................................................................................................................... 76 Montserrat ...................................................................................................................... 81 St. Kitts and Nevis ......................................................................................................... 83 Saint Lucia ..................................................................................................................... 87 St. Vincent and the Grenadines ..................................................................................... 90 Trinidad and Tobago ...................................................................................................... 94 i VI. Summary of Public Comments ......................................................................................... 100 Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 102 Figures Figure 1: U.S. imports under CBERA, by major product categories ............................................ 8 Figure 2: U.S. Imports from CBERA beneficiary countries .......................................................... 9 Tables Table 1: CBERA and CBTPA beneficiary countries and territories ............................................ 16 Table 2: U.S. Trade with CBI beneficiary countries .................................................................... 20 Table 3: U.S. Imports from CBI Countries by Program .............................................................. 21 Table 4: U.S. Exports to CBI Countries ....................................................................................... 23 Table 5: U.S. total imports for consumption and selected programs ........................................... 25 ii Abbreviations and Acronyms Acronyms Term AML Anti-Money Laundering ATPA Andean Trade Preference Act BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Department of Commerce) BRI Belt and Road Initiative CAFTA-DR Central America-United States-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement CARICOM Caribbean Community CARIFORUM Caribbean Forum CBERA Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act CBEREA Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act CBI Caribbean Basin Initiative CBP U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBSI Caribbean Basin Security Initiative CBTPA Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act CCJ Caribbean Court of Justice CRC UN Convention on the Rights of the Child CSM CARICOM Single Market CSME CARICOM Single Market and Economy CTF Countering Terrorism Financing DEA U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency DOL U.S. Department of Labor EB Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (U.S. Department of State) ECLAC Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (United Nations) EIA U.S. Energy Information Agency (U.S. Department of Energy) EIAP Earned Import Allowance Program EIU Economist Intelligence Unit EPA Economic Partnership Agreement FATF Financial Action Task Force FDI Foreign Direct Investment FTA Free Trade Agreement GAO U.S. Government Accountability Office GDP Gross Domestic Product GPA WTO Agreement on Government Procurement GSP Generalized System of Preferences HELP Act Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010 HOPE Acts HOPE I and HOPE II (see below) HOPE I Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006 HOPE II Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 HPAI Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza HS Harmonized System (global tariff schedule) iii Acronyms Term HTS Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States IACAC Inter-American Convention against Corruption ICSID International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes ILO International Labor Organization IMF International Monetary Fund INCSR International Narcotics Control Strategy Report INL Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (U.S. Department of State) IP intellectual property ITA International Trade Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce) LNG Liquefied Natural Gas MFN Most-Favored-Nation MTBE Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement n.e.s.o.i. not elsewhere specified or included NIR Net International Reserves NTR Normal Trade Relations (U.S. term; same as MFN elsewhere) OAS Organization of American States OECS Organization of Eastern Caribbean States OTEXA Office of Textiles and Apparel (U.S. Department of Commerce) PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty RSS Regional Security System SME Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises TFA WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
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