Guide to the Caribbean Basin Initiative

The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) is a broad program to promote economic development through private sector initiative in Central American and Caribbean countries. A major goal of the CBI is to expand foreign and domestic investment in nontraditional sectors, thereby diversifying CBI country economies and expanding their exports. The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of 1983 (CBERA) (amended in 1990) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act of 2000 (CBTPA), collectively known as CBI, provides customs duty-free entry to the United States on a permanent basis for a broad range of products from CBI beneficiary countries. The most recent piece of CBI legislation, the CBTPA, provides beneficiary countries certain trade benefits similar to Mexico's under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).