U.S. Pulls Plug on Haiti's Last Big Industry
Source: Wall Street Journal
For nearly two decades, the U.S. provided a lifeline to Haiti: duty-free textile imports that drew American apparel manufacturers and created tens of thousands of jobs in the Western Hemispheres poorest country.
As of Wednesday, that lifeline is no more.
The expiration of the so-called HOPE/HELP trade program is expected to crush what is left of Haitis biggest industry, which accounted for 90% of exports in a country mired in a gang war that has stoked hunger, generated a refugee crisis and left the government teetering on the brink of collapse.
U.S. lawmakers and Haitian businesses said the end of the program will deepen poverty and bolster gang recruitment while costing jobs in factories that produce clothing for well-known brandsincluding Hanes, Calvin Klein, Gap and Victorias Secretas the industry relocates to Asia. The development could force desperate Haitians to flee to the Dominican Republic or board flimsy boats to other nations.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/u-s-pulls-plug-on-haiti-s-last-big-industry/ar-AA1NER2q

hadEnuf
(3,410 posts)Republicans and MAGA take great pleasure in destroying people, their lives and where they live. They are truly evil.
quaint
(4,198 posts)Because...slaves successfully revolted.
IbogaProject
(5,061 posts)That injustice needs redress at some point if Haiti ever can recover and get stable so any redress can be put to good use.
raccoon
(32,056 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(104,893 posts)"board flimsy boats to other nations" - well, yes, to the USA, the richest one in the area. Which is crying out for cheap labor, no questions asked. Trump shoots himself in one foot and then says "I'll finish the job!" and pulls the trigger for the other.
Bernardo de La Paz
(59,163 posts)Their thinking is that a dollar that goes out of the US is a dollar lost. They are unable to see that imports usually mean efficient expenditures.
No dollar that would have spent on Haitian clothing will ever be spent on US hand-made clothing because the US is inefficient at making clothing. Eventually, clothing will be mostly made by robots. There will be little creation of US jobs whether the clothing is made by robots in the US or made by people or robots elsewhere.
The maga and America First crowd (disregarding Fuentes attempt to hijack the term) are duped by Big Money (private equity, billionaires including tRump cabinet, Project 2025). They are fed simple narratives by people who know better. The tariff taxes are paid by US consumers and will not create many US jobs, not in any quantity that will make their sacrifice meaningful.
But Big Money and maga are equally blind to soft power.
A Haitian job reduces pressure on the US by reducing criminal recruitment and illegal immigration and refugee migration. A created Haitian job wins the US gratitude and respect in Haiti, the Caribbean, and the world. A created Haitian clothes-making job benefits the US consumer and saves them dollars that they can spend on US services inside the US, like restaurants, travel, and entertainment. But the dolts completely discount all of that.
Abolishinist
(2,790 posts)What? Never mind.
Im not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest, he told reporters in May. Im not looking to make socks.
The U.S. ran a trade surplus of nearly $600 million with Haiti last year.
The legislation had provided duty-free entry into the U.S. and generated economic benefits to both sides, according to business advocates. Cotton and other fabrics from the U.S. were used in Haiti to make the finished products shipped to the U.S. Much of the revenue generated by Haitian labor was then spent buying goods from the U.S., including some $260 million in rice from Louisiana and nearly $500 million in fuel in 2024.
What an economic idiot.