Caribbean Trade Programs (CBI and CBTPA)

The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) provides duty-free treatment to limited quantities of certain products.  The CBI program was expanded in 2000 under the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBPTA).  CBI and CBPTA includes conditions that a country needs to take steps to improve worker rights.  CBI initially covered Central American and Caribbean countries but CAFTA has replaced CBI and GSP for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 

CBPTA was dubbed "CBI-parity" or "NAFTA-parity" because it was intended to provide to Central American and Caribbean countries the same duty treatment provided to Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Central American and Caribbean governments and businesses, with the support of the Clinton Administration, lobbied for several years for such parity, arguing that Central American economies were at a disadvantage relative to Mexico.

The expansion of the CBI program in 2000 provided for an initial public comment process. The AFL-CIO filed a lengthy set of complaints about worker rights violations in the region, many in the maquila and banana sectors. The complaint put significant pressure on governments in the region to resolve some of the most high-profile labor cases, including several on which USLEAP focused (e.g. the Chentex resolution in May, 2001 and the Yoo Yang union recognition in December, 2000)