The trade remedy provisions of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) ensure that injurious distortions that may arise from trade between the parties will be addressed quickly and in a manner that provides for an effective remedy. Strong trade remedies are important to U.S. companies doing business internationally.

DR-CAFTA meets Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) negotiating objectives for trade remedy laws.

• The principal negotiating objectives established by Congress for trade remedies in TPA were to preserve the ability of the United States to enforce its trade laws rigorously and to address and remedy market distortions that lead to dumping and subsidization, including cartelization and market-access barriers.
• w U.S. negotiators have met these objectives in DR-CAFTA. It does not change U.S. antidumping or countervailing duty laws. It establishes a bilateral safeguard mechanism during the transition period to allow a temporary suspension of tariff reductions if increased imports from one or more DR-CAFTA parties are a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to a domestic industry. The United States also may apply safeguards on out-of-quota imports of dairy, peanuts and peanut butter. If all parties agree, safeguard coverage can be extended.

U.S. businesses endorse DR-CAFTA’s trade remedy provisions.

• DR-CAFTA will fully protect U.S. producers from injurious dumping or subsidization. It also provides adequate protection from injury that may be caused by DR-CAFTA’s tariff reductions. The U.S. government does not anticipate that such issues will arise from expanded trade with neighbors in Central America, as the paucity of current trade remedy orders suggests, but in the event that the concern should materialize, DR-CAFTA will fully protect U.S. producers.