What Is CAFTA-DR? Duty-Free DR Produce Access Explained | DS

By Arturo Peguero | International Trade Specialist | Former Dirección de Comercio Exterior | Former International Trade Professor

Last updated: June 2026

Quick Answer: CAFTA-DR is the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement between the US, the Dominican Republic, and five Central American countries. In force for the Dominican Republic since 2007, it gives most Dominican goods, including fresh produce, 0% duty entry to the US when they meet the agreement’s rules of origin. For US buyers, it removes the tariff variable from landed cost entirely.

What Is CAFTA-DR?

CAFTA-DR stands for the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. It is a trade pact between the United States, the Dominican Republic, and five Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The agreement entered into force for the Dominican Republic in 2007, per the Office of the US Trade Representative. Its effect for a produce buyer is simple: most goods originating in the Dominican Republic, including fresh fruit and vegetables, enter the United States at 0% duty.

That zero-duty status is the structural backbone of the Dominican produce trade lane into the US. It is confirmed by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and is what lets a Dominican supplier compete on landed cost against origins that face a tariff. For a buyer running the math, it means one fewer variable: the cost is the FOB price plus freight plus clearance, with the duty line at zero.

How Rules of Origin Work

Duty-free treatment is not automatic on anything shipped from the country. A product has to qualify as originating under the agreement’s rules of origin, the criteria that confirm the goods genuinely come from a CAFTA-DR member rather than being trans-shipped through one. For fresh produce grown and harvested in the Dominican Republic, this is straightforward: it is a product of the soil there. The preference is claimed at US entry, which is one of the reasons a commercial importer works with a licensed customs broker who files the entry and the CAFTA-DR claim correctly.

It is worth distinguishing the standing CAFTA-DR rates from temporary trade measures. Separate, time-limited US tariff actions can run alongside the agreement without changing the underlying CAFTA-DR preference, so a buyer should confirm the current entry treatment for a specific product with a customs broker rather than assume a headline tariff applies to Dominican-origin goods.

Why CAFTA-DR Matters for Sourcing

For a US buyer weighing the Dominican Republic against other tropical origins, CAFTA-DR is the quiet advantage. Pair the 0% duty with the lane’s short transit, sea freight to Port Everglades runs about 4 days per Port Everglades, and the Dominican Republic becomes one of the most cost-efficient fresh-produce origins reaching the US East Coast. The duty-free access also underpins categories where the country is a major supplier; it is, for example, part of why the Dominican Republic is a leading origin for organic bananas into duty-sensitive markets.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is CAFTA-DR? CAFTA-DR is the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, a trade pact between the United States, the Dominican Republic, and five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua). It entered into force for the Dominican Republic in 2007 and gives most Dominican goods, including fresh produce, duty-free access to the US market.

Do Dominican Republic fruits enter the US duty-free? Yes. Under CAFTA-DR, fresh fruit and most agricultural products from the Dominican Republic enter the United States at 0% duty, provided they meet the agreement’s rules of origin. This removes the tariff variable from a US buyer’s landed-cost calculation entirely.

What are rules of origin under CAFTA-DR? Rules of origin are the criteria that determine whether a product qualifies as originating in a CAFTA-DR country and therefore eligible for preferential duty treatment. For fresh produce grown and harvested in the Dominican Republic, origin is straightforward. Buyers claim the preference at US entry, typically through a customs broker.

Related Terms

• FOB: the shipping term Dominican exporters quote, on top of which duty sits at zero
• GlobalGAP: the food-safety certification buyers ask exporters to hold

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About the author: Arturo Peguero is the founder of DominicanSources, former official at the Dirección de Comercio Exterior and International Trade Professor at PUCMM with 20+ years in Dominican trade.