United States Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel

Issue Summary

On August 5, 2004, the United States signed the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), which includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. According to USTR, CAFTA-DR is the first Free Trade Agreement between the United States and a group of smaller, developing economies and creates new economic opportunities and market access, especially in the textile and apparel industries.

In 2011, USTR announced a number of changes to CAFTA-DR specifically related to textiles and apparel. These changes include:

• Clarification that certain monofilament sewing thread is now required to originate or be produced in the CAFTA-DR region to qualify for preferential treatment
• Clarification of Chapter notes to short-supply list for sewing thread, pocketing fabrics, and visible lining fabrics
• Treatment of women’s and girls’ woven sleep bottoms
• Treatment of knit-to-shape components
• Treatment of elastomeric yarn in fabrics on the short-supply list
• Classification of knit waistbands
• Increase in the amount of CAFTA Cumulation levels

USA-ITA Position

USA-ITA supports the implementation of these “fixes” to the CAFTA-DR agreement. We are working with the Obama Administration and U.S. Congress for quick approval of the CAFTA-DR fixes.