Haiti Trade Benefits Extended to 2028, Offering Duty-Free Access and Retroactive Refunds for Importers

The Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act is essentially a trade stability measure, extending key duty-free benefits for goods imported from Haiti under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) until December 31, 2028. This extension is a big deal for U.S. companies that rely on Haitian manufacturing, particularly in the apparel sector, by providing years of predictable, tariff-free access to the U.S. market. It locks in the current economic framework for the next four years, giving businesses time to plan and invest.

The Apparel Rulebook Gets a Renewal

For the clothing industry, the bill keeps the special rules for Haitian apparel in place, but with specific guardrails. For certain duty-free treatment, the “applicable percentage” for rules of origin is set at 60 percent or more, which means at least 60% of the cost of the finished garment must come from the U.S. or Haiti. Crucially, the bill also caps the total quantity of eligible duty-free apparel imports at 1.25 percent of all apparel imported into the U.S. in the most recent 12-month period. For a large retailer bringing in clothes from Haiti, this cap prevents unlimited growth under the duty-free umbrella, which is a nod to protecting domestic competitors while still supporting Haitian trade.

Clearing Up Past Tariff Confusion

This legislation also cleans up an administrative mess for the broader Caribbean region. Section 3 requires the President to restore duty-free status for certain Caribbean goods that lost their eligibility between December 2006 and the present day, solely because of technical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). Think of it like this: a specific product code got moved in the HTS, and suddenly, that product was hit with a tariff even though the original intent was to keep it duty-free. The President now has to fix this via proclamation, restoring the intended trade benefits for those specific articles.

The Importer’s Tax Refund: Act Fast

One of the most immediate, real-world impacts of this bill is the retroactive application of duty-free treatment. If you’re a U.S. importer who brought in qualifying Haitian goods between September 30, 2025, and the date this Act becomes law, you likely paid duties that you shouldn’t have. The bill allows you to get that money back. U.S. Customs and Border Protection must reliquidate (recalculate) these entries as if the law were already in effect. However, there’s a tight deadline: importers must file a request for this reliquidation within 180 days of the Act becoming law.

This isn’t an automatic refund; you have to actively file the paperwork, including enough information to locate or reconstruct the original entry. If you miss that 180-day window, you’re out of luck. If you successfully claim the refund, the government is required to pay within 90 days of the reliquidation. One small detail to note: the bill explicitly states that no interest will be paid on these refunds. While getting the principal back is great news for an importer’s bottom line, the lack of interest means the government gets a free short-term loan on that overpaid duty money.