A Spoonful of Sugar, a Cup of Corn Syrup

Sugar has become the conundrum of the DR-CAFTA agreement signed between the U.S., five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. Some criticize the U.S. sugar industry for opposing the agreement, which would increase U.S. sugar imports by a mere 1.2 percent -- about a spoon and a half a week for each American consumer. This token of free trade would be accomplished through the creation of small new sugar quotas. But the agreement would also allow U.S. producers to export high-fructose corn syrup, free of duty or quota, at a rate of a cup a week for each consumer in the lesser countries. The agreement would be the predator of the Dominican sugar industry.

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Under DR-CAFTA, Dominican refined sugar production of 60,000 tons a year would be largely replaced with imports of high-fructose syrup, made from subsidized U.S. corn. Dominican exports would remain subject to quota and restricted to raw sugar. The small CAFTA 10,000 ton a year raw sugar quota given by the U.S. can not be realized unless the Dominican Republic first exports similar quantities to the world market, at a loss. In the end, CAFTA, a free trade agreement, would reduce market opportunities for the product in which the Dominican Republic has the highest comparative advantage. This very unequal exchange is not free trade but rather anti-competitive and predatory behavior, illegal if it happened within American states.