[hedgetrimmer]

CAFTA does not provide new tariff cuts for Central American goods. Already, most textile and apparel products enter the United States duty-free under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) program.CAFTA allows such duty-free treatment for goods meeting a looser rule of origin--i.e. goods with less U.S. or Central American content--but nothing in CAFTA provides new cost-reducing benefits for the region. It just eliminates the requirement of U.S. fabric and other inputs to make the products that will continue to enter duty-free.

--opening the way for China to overwhelm the textile industry in the western hemisphere.

[Once-Ler]

Under CAFTA, more than 80% of U.S. consumer and industrial exports and over half of U.S. farm exports to Central America would become duty-free immediately.

If you read it again you will see it is talking about US exports to Central America not Central American imports to the US. Your comments about CBI are interesting but not on topic.

[Dog Gone]

CAFTA does not provide new tariff cuts for Central American goods. Already, most textile and apparel products enter the United States duty-free under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) program.

That's correct. But the important point is that it phases out the tariffs on American exports to those countries, which means we will sell more to them.

It also opens up their government monopolies on such things as insurance and phone and internet service to American competition. The end result is that American companies can expand and the citizens of those countries will get the benefits of competition in the marketplace, better service, and lower prices.

Everyone wins.