Chamber Hails Senate's Bi-Partisan Approval of DR-CAFTA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce applauded the Senate's passage of the U.S./Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement
(DR-CAFTA) last night and urged the House of Representatives to move forward with approval of the agreement.

"Twenty years after the United States opened its market to the countries in Central America and the Dominican Republic, we're now one step closer to making that trading relationship reciprocal," said Thomas J. Donohue, Chamber President and CEO. "Now the House must follow the Senate's bi-partisan example and approve DR-CAFTA so that American workers, farmers and companies can begin to benefit."

Central America and the Dominican Republic represent the 10th largest market in the world for U.S. goods and services. In 2004 alone, trade between the two markets topped $33 billion. U.S. exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic currently face tariffs of between 7 and 11 percent. DR-CAFTA would level the playing field by immediately eliminating almost 80 percent of those tariffs and then gradually phasing out the rest over the next decade.

The Chamber and its coalition partners have spearheaded lobbying and grassroots efforts on DR-CAFTA for more than two years, including arranging visits to dozens of U.S. cities with Central American and Dominican leaders to make the case for free trade in the region and organizing fly-ins and meetings in Washington with policy leaders to discuss the agreement.

In addition, the Chamber authored and released economic impact studies forecasting the effects of DR-CAFTA on 15 states. Those studies indicate that passage of the agreement would net more than 27,500 new jobs and $4 billion in added sales for U.S. businesses in the first year alone.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses of every size, sector and region.

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