Last week’s inception of 10% tariffs on all goods and services exported from the Dominican Republic to the United States was met with everything from proclamations such as Chicken Little’s “the sky is falling” to “the tariffs are an opportunity.”
Economist Jaime Aristy Escuder wrote on X: “Dominican exports, including those of free zones, will now be taxed with the 10% tariff. This violates the DR-CAFTA that has enabled the US to have a commercial surplus of US$5.26 billion with the Dominican Republic and benefit from strong intellectual property protection.”
While Aristy Escuder said on X that the tariffs violate DR-CAFTA, the DR, nevertheless, in January 2025 had already levied tariffs on US rice imports. Sectors have said the country would have been wiser by levying phytosanitary restrictions on imported rice from the US given the widespread use of Roundup in US rice crops.
In February 2025, the Dominican Republic exported over a billion dollars in goods and services and over half of this went to the United States.
As a result of all the doubts and questions, entities such as the American Chamber of Commerce, the Santiago Chamber of Commerce and Production, and the Dominican Industrial Association (AIRD) are all meeting to weigh the pros and cons of this situation. President Luis Abinader has also said that he expects to have bilateral conversations with US government officials regarding the tariffs very soon.
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7 April 2025