US Puts an End to Haiti's Trade Lifeline

Haiti is teetering on the brink—and things just got worse. The US on Wednesday let a key trade program expire, one that allowed duty-free imports to the US of Haitian-made textiles. The end of the HOPE/HELP initiative, in place since 2006, effectively pulls the rug from under Haiti's top export sector, which has supplied brands like Hanes and Calvin Klein and, at its peak, supported tens of thousands of jobs, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Just how big a deal is this? The Journal reports textiles had made up 90% of Haiti's exports, and an April report from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre found the sector accounted for 90% of formal employment in the country. The Journal adds that Haiti is a heavy user of US goods like rice and fuel; the US enjoyed a roughly $600 million trade surplus with the country in 2024. The program's demise means new tariffs on Haitian clothing and a likely exodus of factory work to Asia, a move expected to worsen Haiti's economic crisis. Business leaders warn the fallout could be severe: more poverty, easier gang recruitment, and a surge in desperate migration attempts.

Haitian business figures and some US lawmakers had pressed for an extension, but support fizzled amid the Trump administration's "America First" focus on bringing manufacturing back home. (Though the Journal points out President Trump made clear that the prize industries were technology and military equipment: "I'm not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I'm not looking to make socks," he said in May.)