Unilateral

United States’ Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI)

The CBI aims to facilitate the economic development and export diversification of the Caribbean Basin economics which Belize is part of. The CBI was launched in 1983 through the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), the initiative was expanded in 2000 through the US-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), and it was again strengthened through the US’s Trade Act of 2002. The CBI allows beneficiary with duty-free, quota free access to the United States’ market for most goods.

Canada’s Caribbean-Canada Trade Agreement (CARIBCAN)

The CARIBCAN is a trade agreement between Canada and the commonwealth Caribbean countries established in 1986. The aim of the agreement is to promote trade, investment and facilitate industrial cooperation via preferential market access from the Caribbean to the Canadian market.

Negotiation is currently underway to expand the scope of the agreement.

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)

Belize enjoys preferential market access to nine (9) countries under the GSP. The GSP is a preferential tariffs system which provides for a formal system of exemption from the more general rules of the WTO, usually extended unilaterally from a developed country to a single or group of developing countries; especially the Least Developed Countries.

The nine countries are:

• Australia
• Canada
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Russia
• Switzerland
• Turkey and
• USA

The CBI and the CARIBCAN are forms of GSPs.