Bipartisan Bill Would Add Ecuador to CBERA

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's leaders have introduced a bill to add Ecuador to the list of beneficiaries of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, reducing tariffs on nearly 50% of Ecuador's exports to the U.S.

The CBERA offers duty-free status for many products, including apparel if the fabric or yarn is from the U.S.

“Ecuador is facing a number of crises, including illegal immigration, pressure from China, and violence from Mexican drug cartels,” Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a news release announcing the bill last week. The measure is designed to support a democracy "under extreme pressure from Chinese and other malign influences," Risch and Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said, and also would promote Ecuador's economy to reduce migration from Ecuador to the U.S. The news release said illegal immigration from Ecuador "has more than doubled so far in FY2023 compared to FY2022."

Ecuador has been pressing for the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, which covered more than $900 million worth of that country's exports in 2021, the last year before the program expired; in 2022, Ecuador exported $10.4 billion in goods to the U.S. The country also has been lobbying U.S. officials to open trade negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement.