The Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

legislative act Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as ...

signed into law on May 18, 2000 by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

as part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. This latter act, which also included the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 (AGOA), was intended to advance U.S. economic and security interests by strengthening American relationships with other regions of the world then viewed to be making significant strides in terms of economic development and political reform. The 23 independent countries of the

Caribbean basin In Geography, the Caribbean Basin is generally defined as the area running from Florida westward along the Gulf coast, then south along the Mexican coast through Central America and then eastward across the northern coast of South America. This ...

region together form the sixth largest export market for U.S. goods, totaling $19 billion and absorbing 2.7 percent of U.S. exports in 1999. However, the devastation of hurricanes

Mitch Mitch is a short form of the masculine given name Mitchell. It is also sometimes a nickname, usually for a person with the surname Mitchell. It may refer to: People * Mitch Altman (born 1956), hacker and inventor * Mitch Apau (born 1990), Dutc ...

and Georges in 1998 set the regional economy back. In addition, the U.S.'s signing of the

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

with Mexico in 1994 had caused Caribbean basin countries to lose the preferential treatment they had previously enjoyed. The CBTPA, an expansion of the 1983

Caribbean Basin Initiative The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), a trade initiative initiated by the 1983 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), is a United States program. The CBI came into effect on January 1, 1984, and aimed to provide several tariff and trade ben ...

(CBI), sought to address those issues. In particular, the CBTPA extended preferential

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

treatment to

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

and apparel products assembled from U.S. fabric that were previously excluded from the program. American policy makers hoped that this would encourage additional U.S. exports of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

and

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufact ...

and U.S. investment in the region, thereby improving the global competitive position of the U.S. textile industry. The CBTPA was also intended to encourage the diversification of CBI countries’ economies, viewed by American policymakers as a key step towards economic development that would decrease the region's dependence on aid and reduce illegal immigration into the United States as well as the trafficking of illegal drugs. American lawmakers also hoped that CBTPA would send a signal to the other countries of the Caribbean basin and elsewhere of American commitment to promoting trade-expanding policies.

References

Sources

This page adapted from th
Caribbean Basin Initiative
page, maintained of the United States Department of Commerce.

External links

* * * * * {{cite web , url=https://archive.org/details/4733266.2000.001.umich.edu/page/904 , title=Statement on Congressional Action on Africa and Caribbean Basin Trade Legislation - May 11, 2000 , last=Clinton , first=William J. , date=May 11, 2000 , website=Internet Archive , location=Washington, D.C. , publisher=National Archives and Records Service , page=904 Acts of the 106th United States Congress United States foreign relations legislation United States–Caribbean relations Economy of the Caribbean 2000 in international relations