Santo Domingo — For the Dominican Republic, the United States holds an unshakable position as the nation’s primary strategic partner, according to President Luis Abinader, who has outlined the country’s core priorities in ongoing bilateral trade negotiations centered on the longstanding DR-CAFTA free trade agreement.
Speaking during his regular weekly address to the public, Abinader confirmed that Dominican officials have already formally flagged concerns about recent shifts in tariff rules applied to Dominican goods entering the U.S. market, raising the issue directly with both the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy based in Santo Domingo.
While the president stressed that broader diplomatic and cooperative ties between the two nations remain robust across a range of policy areas, he acknowledged that the current tariff framework has not delivered the level of fair, reciprocal treatment that the Dominican government expected when the agreement was implemented.
At the heart of the country’s negotiation demands is the preservation of the zero-tariff market access that Dominican exporters have relied on since DR-CAFTA entered into force. Abinader made clear that full adherence to the terms of the existing free trade deal is the non-negotiable top expectation for his administration as discussions with Washington progress.
The Dominican Republic is currently engaged in active negotiations with the U.S. to update and refine the bilateral tariff agreement, with the explicit goal of securing and expanding favorable market access for the country’s export-focused sectors. President Abinader has repeatedly classified these talks as one of his administration’s top economic and diplomatic priorities.
As the Dominican Republic’s single largest trading partner, the U.S. market shapes the trajectory of much of the country’s economy. Changes to tariff rules therefore carry outsized importance for key Dominican industries, from export-oriented manufacturing free zones to agricultural producers and the broader manufacturing sector, whose competitiveness depends heavily on preferential access to American consumers.