An Assessment of U.S. Market Access for Traditional and Nontraditional Agricultural Exports Under the Caribbean Basin Initiative

The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) provides duty-free access for Caribbean and Central American products entering U.S. markets. This paper compares the performance of traditional agricultural exports (beef, bananas, coffee, sugar and tobacco products) and nontraditional exports (pineapples, melons, fresh citrus, frozen orange juice and vegetables) under the CBERA. The decline in the value of traditional agricultural exports exceeded the gains in nontraditional exports by 400 percent. Tariffs and a limited range of duty-free goods still constrain CBERA’s development potential despite gains under the amended legislation