When the United States government shuttered Wednesday, it stalled hope of any quick renewal of the Haiti HOPE and HELP trade preference programs, which lapsed as September ended.
The bad news is, nothing happens with a shuttered government whose reopening remains unclear, and a lapsed agreement means higher costs in the immediate term and greater uncertainty for brands with sourcing operations there.
The good news is, the White House is expected to renew the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) programs in their current forms, though whether it’s a short term, one-year renewal or the 10-year renewal champions of the program are seeking remains to be seen.
But the most important news is, nothing at all is certain and when isn’t a question anyone has the answer to either.
“I think we’ll definitely have Haiti HOPE and HELP renewed,” said Beth Hughes, vice president of trade and customs at the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA). “It really depends on how long this government shutdown lasts, and every day is a new day where the Senate votes and fails.”
For the year ended July 2025, U.S. textile and apparel imports under Haiti’s trade preference program totaled $512.2 million, down 15 percent from $603 million in July last year, according to the International Trade Administration. The program’s intent has been to support Haiti’s economic recovery and development, and brands like Gap and Hanes have been sourcing there for years.
While some on the Hill are working, Hughes said, other offices are furloughed with work frozen for now.
Still, she said of the trade preference program, “I think it will pass before the end of the year.” And the renewal is expected to be retroactive, which means duties paid now can be recovered later.
“We’ve been telling our members to make sure they’re still flagging any of their imports for customs, so that when the time comes, they can get those refunds. But it is difficult. With the most favored nation duty [MFN] for apparel, particularly, it’s already high, and then you add the reciprocal rate, and then just doing business in Haiti can be difficult given what the country is going through right now,” Hughes said referring to escalating gang violence that has plunged Haiti into a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations said on Thursday that armed groups now control nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and food prices and scarcity have contributed to as many as 1.3 million people fleeing their homes. “Even with the prospects of refunds coming, it’s still going to be difficult for companies.”
For now, imports on apparel from Haiti will face MFN duty rates that range between 20 percent and 30 percent, plus the 10 percent reciprocal tariff. A U.S. brand bringing in a T-shirt from Haiti, for example, would pay a 16.5 percent MFN duty on top of the 10 percent reciprocal tariffs for a total 26.5 percent duty.
“The apparel sector is of incredible importance to Haiti’s economy and presently is the foundation for the country’s economic development.”
—Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett
A lot of the orders were already placed well ahead, and whether there’ll be new orders, I’m not sure,” Hughes continued. “Our companies that are there are still committed, they want to stay. They want to keep sourcing from Haiti. They want to make sure their supplier and vendor employees are taken care of. But it’s just so uncertain right now.”
In its 2025 Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study released at the end of July, the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) said by value, apparel made up 80 percent of Haiti’s exports in 2023, and nearly 90 percent of those exports went to the U.S., its single largest export market. Before the agreement lapsed, when renewal was already uncertain, half of U.S. fashion companies said, “regardless of the status of HOPE/HELP, the political stability in the country is critical for our company to source from Haiti.”
Trade data also bore out that sourcing hesitation. According to USFIA, “In the first five months of 2025, U.S. apparel imports from Haiti declined 17.1 percent year-over-year, with the country’s market share falling to a new low of 0.8 percent. Furthermore, on June 4, 2025, the Trump Administration announced a travel ban on nationals from Haiti, adding another layer of complexity to doing business with the country.” As of now, that ban remains in effect.
The end of the year seems to be marking an unofficial cut off for a renewal to come before companies really start to reconsider sourcing in Haiti.
“If we get into 2026 and it hasn’t been renewed, it’s going to be highly problematic,” said Ron Sorini, principal at international trade consultancy Sorini, Samet & Associates. At that point he anticipates there’d be “an agonizing reappraisal among apparel companies there and Haiti would lose a lot more jobs.”
When the HOPE/HELP agreements were enacted in 2006, there were roughly 8,000 people in the apparel industry in Haiti, according to Sorini. That agreement led to development of the Codevi Free Zone and Caracol Industrial Park in the northern part of the country. “Three years ago, we were up to 62,000 jobs and that was 100 percent the result of the HOPE/HELP program,” he said. “Now we’re down to about 30,000 jobs because they’ve lost a lot of jobs around Port-au-Prince.
“Once this agreement is renewed, I think Haiti will be poised to grow again. What’s been holding back expansion in Codevi and Caracol is the uncertainty, because a lot of those jobs that moved out of Port-au-Prince, some have gone to Codevi. Everything would have gone to Codevi if people knew that HOPE/HEALTH was being extended for the long term. But since that’s not certain, some of that production moved to Asia,” Sorini continued. So far, Codevi and Caracol have largely been insulated from the gang violence, but that could be at risk of changing. “If you lose those jobs, if the retailers move out of Codevi and Caracol, then that’s going to collapse and then the violence from Port-au-Prince is going to move to the north.”
There’s a lot at stake for Haiti as this trade preference program—which allowed most textile and apparel goods to enter the U.S. duty free, using fabric and components from the U.S. or any country—sits on ice.
“The apparel sector is of incredible importance to Haiti’s economy and presently is the foundation for the country’s economic development. Given the cascading job losses and extreme security crisis, Haiti cannot afford to wait any longer for the reauthorization of this vital program,” Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett, who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands, said in a statement that came as the program lapsed. “U.S. support for Haiti’s apparel sector is mutually beneficial. Haitian apparel utilizes U.S. cotton and can play an essential role in further shifting supply chains out of China and to the Western Hemisphere.”
Beyond Haiti providing an additional option for reducing reliance on China, giving up on sourcing there could create a window of opportunity for China.
“Once brands or retailers leave a country or a region, it’s hard to attract them back there, so that’s why they’re really committed and they don’t want to leave,” AAFA’s Hughes said. “We don’t want any of our sourcing partners to feel this uncertainty but also this strain because, as we try to leave China, as we try to diversify supply chains, anywhere that we leave, China just seems to hone in on. It’s the same thing that we’re facing with AGOA. We don’t want the U.S. to turn its back on a country or a region, because then China will go in and invest and, basically take that opportunity away from the United States.”
