By Kejal Vyas

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 Hemisphere's 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 Haiti's 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 brands -- including Hanes, Calvin Klein, Gap and Victoria's Secret -- as the industry relocates to Asia. The development could force desperate Haitians to flee to the Dominican Republic or board flimsy boats to other nations.

"Without those jobs, we are going to see more people left on the streets, more people drawn to crime and gangs," said Fernando Capellán, president of the Codevi industrial park along Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic, where some 18,000 of Haiti's 26,000 textile jobs are concentrated.

Haitian business leaders have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for months for an extension of the legislation, which had enjoyed bipartisan support. But policies that stimulate jobs outside the U.S. have become a harder sell in the midst of the Trump administration's protectionist agenda.

"Everybody says yes, yes, yes, but then nothing happens," said Georges Sassine, a veteran Haitian textile executive.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D., Fla.) said ending the program in Haiti would "push the country deeper into crisis."

"The future of Haiti and the security of the United States depend on it, " she added in a statement.

President Trump earlier this year said that he is seeking to return manufacturing to the U.S., but his priority is to attract makers of military equipment and technology, not the textile industry.

"I'm not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest," he told reporters in May. "I'm not looking to make socks."

The State Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House didn't respond to requests for comment.

The HOPE/HELP initiative began in 2006 and expanded after the devastating 2010 earthquake. It was designed to promote business in Haiti while offering incentives so American apparel makers could locate production close to the U.S. instead of operating in Asia, where much of the clothing industry had gone.

Support from the U.S. government and multilateral financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank helped the industry take root. One center, Caracol in northern Haiti, opened in 2012 with $300 million in funding from the U.S. and development banks. As recently as 2021, the apparel industry employed some 60,000 workers in Haiti.

While Caracol was designed to accommodate tens of thousands of employees, today it employs only about 2,000 because of Haiti's security problems and the uncertainty over the preferential trade program.

"This will turn into a total white elephant," said Capellán, president of the industrial park near the Dominican Republic.

The expiration of the preferential program means U.S. importers of Haitian-made clothing will be subject to import duties between 20% and 30%, in addition to the 10% "reciprocal tariff" leveled by the Trump administration against many trade partners.

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.

The U.S. ran a trade surplus of nearly $600 million with Haiti last year.

The looming economic blow comes as Haiti's beleaguered government struggles to contain gangs that have taken over nearly the entire capital, Port-au-Prince. In recent months, the government teamed up with Erik Prince, the founder and controversial former leader of Blackwater, to loosen the gangs' hold on roads, fuel depots and commercial ports.

Those efforts could be in vain if Haiti's local economy is pulverized, making recovery efforts more challenging. Uncertainty over the future of HOPE/HELP had already led many multinationals this year to transfer production to factories in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.

"It would take months or years to bring back those supply lines," said Maulik Radia, head of the Association of Industries of Haiti.

He said the closing of clothing plants in the nation's northeast would worsen economic desperation because each garment job supports several family members.

"What keeps the security is the jobs," Radia said.

Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2025 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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