At a time when the new Trump administration in the United States has opened talks for changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada, Mexico and the United States, and its withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement with Pacific-rim countries, former President Leonel Fernández believes it is now a good time to revise DR-CAFTA.
The Dominican Republic – Central American Free Trade Agreement dates back to 2007, when it was first implemented in the Dominican Republic. The agreement was negotiated in 2003 under former President Hipólito Mejía.
Former President Fernández said that under the present circumstances, the agreement is not advantageous for the country. He noted that local producers are calling for changes, in the same way US sectors seek a review of NAFTA.
“If he (Trump) would like to revise NAFTA, we also wish to revise CAFTA,” said Fernández.
Fernández spoke during a meeting with directors and members of the National Confederation of Farm Producers (Confenagro) at Funglode.
He suggested seeking support from Dominican US representative Adriano Espaillat and from experts from the UNCTAD to revisit DR-CAFTA.
The director of the Statistics Office (ONE), Alexandra Izquierdo says that exports to the United States were US$3.45 billion, while imports from the United States were US$5.49 billion in 2016.
The president of the Confenagro, Eric Rivero motivated President Danilo Medina to take advantage of the CELAC meeting in Punta Cana from 24-25 January 2017 to discuss with fellow presidents from Central America the revision of the DR-CAFTA clauses. “We feel we can compete, but in equal conditions. We cannot compete with subsidies,” he said, as reported in Diario Libre.
Read more in Spanish:
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/01/23/leonel-fernandez-favorece-revision-del-cafta
http://www.diariolibre.com/m/economia/productores-instan-al-gobierno-a-revisar-el-acuerdo-dr-cafta-NA6064395
24 January 2017
