Your Business Location: International

The benefits of CAFTA are not limited only to U.S. businesses. They extend to companies outside the region that establish operations in any of the seven member countries.

That means foreign companies can more easily access this newly integrated, economically significant region.  U.S. companies, for example, sell more than $25 billion in products to the region annually, making it the United States� 5th-largest export market. With the removal of virtually all tariffs and other barriers to trade, the CAFTA agreement is making commerce with these countries even easier, opening the door of opportunity to a range of industries.  At the same time, it is making the CAFTA countries richer, increasing the purchasing power of their citizens.

For international companies looking to access these markets, the United States, recognized worldwide for its stable regulatory and legal framework and for its robust infrastructure, is the most logical place set up operations.  And within the United States, no location is as well positioned as Florida to act as the gateway to the CAFTA markets.  For a variety of reasons � from geography and language to well-developed business and family connections � this is a role that Florida has already been playing very successfully for a number of years and which, with the implementation of CAFTA, is only gaining in importance.

A large share of the merchandise trade between the CAFTA countries and the rest of the world already flows through Florida; whether from Montreal, Munich, or Mumbai, the most efficient access to the CAFTA markets is through Florida. In addition to its pivotal role in the CAFTA countries� trade with the rest of the world, Florida is the main gateway for companies investing in the CAFTA countries: about 300 multinational firms have their Latin American & Caribbean regional headquarters in Florida.  In addition to corporate headquarters and shared services centers, many non-U.S. firms also locate their manufacturing plants, distribution/logistics centers, R&D facilities, and marketing/sales offices in Florida, to service markets in the United States and throughout the Western Hemisphere.  In all, more than 2,000 companies based outside the U.S. have operations in Florida, with total holdings of US$32 billion, employing about 260,000 Floridians.

With its strategic location, state-of-the-art infrastructure, multi-lingual workforce, and concentration of corporate and financial resources, Florida offers international companies very real bottom-line business advantages and unparalleled access to the U.S. and CAFTA markets.