{ "id": "RL32110", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL32110", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 317002, "date": "2006-07-21", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T18:55:16.566029", "title": "Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)", "summary": "On August 2, 2005, President Bush signed into law the bill to implement the Dominican\nRepublic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ( P.L. 109-53 , H.R. 3045 ). Drawing much attention during congressional debate were the agreement's sugar provisions\nto allow additional sugar from the region to enter the U.S. market. To assuage concerns expressed\nby some Members, the Administration pledged prior to Senate passage to take steps to ensure that\nall sugar imports, including those under DR-CAFTA, do not exceed a \"trigger\" that could undermine\nthe U.S. Department of Agriculture's ability to manage the domestic sugar program. Sugar producers\nand processors responded that USDA's pledge did not address their long-term concerns, and\ncontinued last-minute efforts to defeat the agreement.\n In DR-CAFTA, the United States and six countries will completely phase out tariffs and quotas\n-- the primary means of border protection -- on all but four agricultural commodities traded between\nthem in stages up to 20 years. The four exempted products are as follows: for the United States,\nsugar; for Costa Rica, fresh onions and fresh potatoes; and for the four other Central American\ncountries, white corn. The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua\nhave approved the agreement; Costa Rica's legislature is currently considering it. As it takes effect\non a rolling basis, the U.S. agricultural sector will over time gain free access to the six highly\nprotected markets on a reciprocal basis, matching these countries' current duty-free entry for nearly\nall their agricultural exports to the United States. Other provisions establish safeguards for specified\nagricultural products to protect U.S. and the region's producers from sudden import surges; prohibit\nthe use of export subsidies between partners; and establish a mechanism to address sanitary and\nphytosanitary barriers to agricultural trade. DR-CAFTA's provisions, once fully implemented,\nare expected to result in trade gains, though\nsmall, for the U.S. agricultural sector. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) estimates that\n$328 million in additional exports (primarily grains, meat products, and processed food products)\nwould be offset by a $52 million increase in imports (largely reflecting additional access granted for\nsugar and beef from the six countries). Of the $2.7 billion increase in total U.S. exports that the ITC\nprojects under DR-CAFTA, 12% would be attributable to the U.S. agricultural sector.\n Most U.S. commodity groups, agribusiness and food manufacturing firms, and the American\nFarm Bureau Federation (a general farm organization) supported DR-CAFTA, expecting to benefit\nfrom the guaranteed increased access to these six markets. Cotton producers announced their\nsupport only after one major textile trade association came out in favor of it. The U.S. sugar industry\nstrongly opposed the additional access for sugar imports from these countries, fearing its economic\nimpact on domestic producers and processors. Two cattlemen trade organizations held differing\npositions on the agreement's beef provisions. The National Farmers Union (a general farm\norganization) opposed DR-CAFTA. Congress is expected to monitor developments on DR-CAFTA\nimplementation during the second session of the 109th Congress. This report will be updated.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32110", "sha1": "4468f256b9ab8a3b131b3b6d5d8124571d2b9089", "filename": "files/20060721_RL32110_4468f256b9ab8a3b131b3b6d5d8124571d2b9089.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32110", "sha1": "84d9a5a05f679d5b5dc17c54c886eb943927b2d6", "filename": "files/20060721_RL32110_84d9a5a05f679d5b5dc17c54c886eb943927b2d6.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs8288/", "id": "RL32110 2006-01-12", "date": "2006-01-12", "retrieved": "2006-02-24T12:15:06", "title": "Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican Republic Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)", "summary": "On August 2, 2005, President Bush signed into law the bill to implement the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA (P.L. 109-53, H.R. 3045). In DR-CAFTA, the United States and six countries will completely phase out tariffs and quotas \u2014 the primary means of border protection \u2014 on all but four agricultural commodities traded between them in stages up to 20 years. The four exempted products are as follows: for the United States, sugar; for Costa Rica, fresh onions and fresh potatoes; and for the four other Central American countries, white corn. DR-CAFTA\u2019s provisions, once fully implemented, are expected to result in trade gains, though small, for the U.S. agricultural sector. This report describes this agreement in detail, as well as the stances of both supporters and detractors.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20060112_RL32110_703f371f168c9fdbd07686e41d3410600bfad8ff.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20060112_RL32110_703f371f168c9fdbd07686e41d3410600bfad8ff.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture", "name": "Agriculture" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade agreements - Central American countries - U.S.", "name": "Trade agreements - Central American countries - U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade agreements - U.S. - Central American countries", "name": "Trade agreements - U.S. - Central American countries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture in foreign trade", "name": "Agriculture in foreign trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade", "name": "Trade" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807156/", "id": "RL32110_2005Dec22", "date": "2005-12-22", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20051222_RL32110_80bced3678e3472470c55aa4119173f6598c1d39.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20051222_RL32110_80bced3678e3472470c55aa4119173f6598c1d39.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817304/", "id": "RL32110_2005Jul22", "date": "2005-07-22", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20050722_RL32110_42c7afd6f37a8501e04c9942a50d3146d2f71fe8.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20050722_RL32110_42c7afd6f37a8501e04c9942a50d3146d2f71fe8.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815789/", "id": "RL32110_2005Jun24", "date": "2005-06-24", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Agriculture in the U.S.-Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20050624_RL32110_417d90cb781ad42026bc3a292116e0b1dae0d9fd.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20050624_RL32110_417d90cb781ad42026bc3a292116e0b1dae0d9fd.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs3732/", "id": "RL32110 2003-10-31", "date": "2003-10-31", "retrieved": "2005-06-10T18:23:02", "title": "Agricultural Trade in a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)", "summary": "As part of its overall trade strategy, the Bush Administration over the last year began negotiating bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreements with four regional blocs or countries. Negotiations on a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) involving Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua began in late January 2003 and are currently scheduled to conclude this December. While negotiators have reportedly made progress in a number of areas, efforts to formulate a framework for handling agricultural trade have been slow.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20031031_RL32110_544a4c9a95bf4a5a33969a3a07c071d04054307d.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20031031_RL32110_544a4c9a95bf4a5a33969a3a07c071d04054307d.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture", "name": "Agriculture" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade agreements - Central American countries - U.S.", "name": "Trade agreements - Central American countries - U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade agreements - U.S. - Central American countries", "name": "Trade agreements - U.S. - Central American countries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture in foreign trade", "name": "Agriculture in foreign trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade", "name": "Trade" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Agricultural Policy", "Foreign Affairs" ] }