Dealing With a Bad Deal: Two Years of DR-CAFTA in Central America

Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Washington D.C.

Critics argue that for over a decade, the United States has been striving to create commercial in-roads into Latin America by way of bilateral free trade agreements that benefit U.S. economic interests to the detriment of those of Latin America.

A recent example of this trend was the passage of the Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), a pact designed to promote trade and foreign investment between the U.S. and its Caribbean Basin neighbors. When it was being negotiated, advocates of DR-CAFTA repeatedly assured skeptics that the agreement was a “win-win” situation, arguing that it would economically benefit all countries involved…

However, two years have now passed since some Central American countries implemented DR-CAFTA’s mandates, and governments, farmers, and workers across the region are beginning to suffer the consequences of an unfair deal... More>>>