Negotiators are overcoming the final obstacles to creating a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). U.S. industries believe the pact will allow them to increase their exports to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Unions and sugar and textile industries are opposing CAFTA, worried about the loss of textile and apparel jobs and the steep tariffs that protect the U.S. sugar industry
See "U.S., 5 Nations Work on Free Trade Pact", Associated Press, The New York Times, December 15, 2003