CAFTA: A Winner for U.S. Manufacturing

摘要

The U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua will level the playing field for American manufacturers and make trade fair. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the nation's largest industrial trade association, which represents small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states, strongly supports this comprehensive agreement. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. imports from CAFTA are duty-free today, due to the one-way market access programs already provided to them. Moreover, excluding textiles, 93 percent of U.S. manufactured goods imported from CAFTA already are duty free. This important agreement makes trade two-way and levels the playing field. American manufacturers will be able to sell to CAFTA countries duty-free, while European companies and others will still have to pay full duties. According to a NAM analysis, with the passage of CAFTA U.S. manufacturers stand to gain 1 dollars billion of additional manufactured-goods exports, with approximately 12,000 related job opportunities for American workers. More significantly, CAFTA could preserve as much as four times that amount in existing U.S. exports. Without the agreement, CAFTA countries would be at risk of losing their 10 dollars billion of apparel exports to the United States to Asian competitors, and cut their U.S. purchases by 4 dollars billion, affecting as many as 48,000 U.S. jobs.