Browse Data and Analysis

Two key free trade agreements – the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (or CAFTA-DR) and the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement – have stimulated U.S. agricultural exports...

Line graph showing the total U.S. agricultural exports to the northern triangle region of the Central America. Total exports in 2016 equaled $2.2 billion.

Central America’s Northern Triangle – which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – offers significant market opportunities for exporters of U.S. farm and food products.

Since the United States entered into the CAFTA-DR trade agreement, U.S. agricultural exports to the six CAFTA-DR countries have more than doubled.

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) help expand foreign markets for U.S. producers and exporters by reducing trade barriers, fostering a more stable and transparent environment for trade and investment...

Graphic illustrating the growth of U.S. agricultural exports in response to trade agreements over the past 70 years.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of beef but it also imports more beef than any other country.

As required by U.S. statute, the United States maintains a trade embargo with Cuba. However, agricultural commodities are exempt provided that export transactions meet certain legal criteria.

In December 2014 the United States embarked on a new diplomatic journey with Cuba, in the process rejuvenating U.S. agriculture’s interest in our southern neighbor.

Since the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA) was implemented in 2000, the United States has exported nearly $5 billion worth of agricultural products to Cuba.

Central America and the Caribbean, with their close geographical and economic ties to the United States, have always been an important market for U.S. agricultural exports.

In 2008, El Salvador abolished the Planting Seed Law that required imported seeds to have a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the seeds did not contain GMOs.