The Dominican Republic has trade agreements with Central America, the United States, Panama, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the Caribbean Community and the member states of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM), according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
All agreements, except the agreement with Panama, in which the Dominican Republic participates include trade in goods and services.
In particular, the Partial Scope Agreement with the Republic of Panama covers only trade in goods and only grants preferences to a limited number of products.
The other agreements also include other trade disciplines, such as investment, e-commerce, intellectual property, labor and environmental issues.
In 2020, the Dominican Republic ratified a new agreement, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the CARIFORUM States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; it entered into force on January 1, 2021.
Acuerdos comerciales vigentes en 2022
The EPA with the United Kingdom maintains the market access conditions and other trade disciplines agreed under the EPA with the European Union. Consequently, no new commitments were agreed.
Only the legal and technical changes necessary to implement the agreement were made in the EPA.
For example, the rules of origin were adjusted to allow cumulation of origin with materials originating in the European Union.
Trade Agreements
The authorities also indicated that although the Dominican Republic granted a tariff quota for milk powder under the EPA with the European Union, this quota was not negotiated with the United Kingdom.
According to the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade, much of the Dominican Republic’s trade is conducted under preferential agreements; CAFTA-DR is the most important trade agreement.
With regard to tariffs, the Dominican Republic is continuing with the tariff elimination schedule negotiated in CAFTA-DR, under which all tariff lines will be duty-free for all Parties by 2025.
Under the treaty, the Dominican Republic has negotiated tariff rate quotas for agricultural products originating in Costa Rica, the United States, and Nicaragua.
As indicated by the authorities, some of these quotas held with the United States were eliminated in 2017 and 2020.
Central America
The trade relationship that the Dominican Republic has with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua is still governed by two trade agreements; in case there are differences in tariff preferences, the agreement that offers the least restrictive treatment is used.
The Dominican Republic and Panama are in the process of negotiating the extension of the partial scope trade agreement.
According to the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade, the agreement, which has been in force since 1985, no longer corresponds to the Dominican «export matrix».
