WILLEMSTAD - On September 12 and 13, 2019, Magaly Garcia, Regional Director of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, will visit Curacao to provide an overview of how the trade preference program, the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), works, and describe the program benefits. This is an opportunity to increase duty-free shipments to the United States.

The U.S. Consulate in cooperation with the Curacao Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Ministry of Economic Development will facilitate an information session on Thursday, September 12, from 6:00-7:00pm. Mrs. Garcia will hold a presentation in the auditorium of the Curacao Chamber of Commerce for businesses interested in exporting goods to the U.S.

CBTPA was implemented on October 5, 2000 and will expire on September 30, 2020. U.S. Representatives introduced legislation to reauthorize CBTPA until 2030. CBTPA countries are a subset of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) countries with expanded duty-free access to the U.S. market.

Curacao is one of the partner nations of the program and, therefore, may potentially benefit from CBTPA through duty-free access to the U.S. market for most goods.