U.S. unilateral initiative originated in the 1983 "Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act". It aimed at providing several tariff and trade benefits to Central American and caribbean countries. The initiative started to function since early 1984 and was issued in the context of internal war in El Salvador and Guatemala (against leftist guerrillas) and the U.S. opposition to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, therefore adding economic pressure to them by promoting U.S. investment and capitalist growth in the broader region. Unilateralism is an antonym for multilateralism. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... Sandinista! is also the name of a popular music album by The Clash. ...
Although it has been modified several times, (see Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act) several products from the region still enjoy preferencial status as imports to the U.S. Nonetheless, it is believed that those benefits will be soon replaced by bilateralFree Trade Agreements in the area, which are currently subject to much economic and political debate. Bilateralism is a term referring to trade or political relations between two states. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ...
Further Information
El Salvador Trade & Investment [1] (http://www.elsalvadortrade.com.sv/tratados/i_html/cbi.html)
Costa Rican Ministry of Commerce [2] (http://www.comex.go.cr/acuerdos/Otros/CBI/default.htm) (in Spanish)
The CaribbeanBasinInitiative added to the quota based trading system in the Caribbean by offering advantageous duty treatment to garments assembled in the Caribbean from textiles cut and formed in the United States.
The Caribbean Textile and Apparel Institute reports that since the introduction of NAFTA over 150 companies and 123 000 jobs have been lost in the apparel industry in the Caribbean, and that many of those firms have relocated to Mexico.
Caribbean countries will have to look at ways of growing out of the assembly role and acquiring more value added activities based on their intrinsic production capacities rather than their location or preferential trade agreements.
The CaribbeanBasinInitiative Is a Failure - Timothy Ashby
The CaribbeanBasinInitiative (CBI) - centerpiece of President Reagan's policy for the region - is being called a failure by even the most ardent supporters of the administration's Caribbean policy.
These fledgling Caribbean democracies were vulnerable to communist destabilization due to economic and social weaknesses; coups d'etat brought Soviet-allied regimes to power in Grenada and Nicaragua, while leftist governments emerged in Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, and other countries.
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