Making waves: stronger ties mean more two-way international trade

South Florida CEO, May, 2005

As vice president of Miami-based shipping company Seaboard Marine Ltd., Jose Perez-Jones leads sales and marketing for a 22-year-old shipping company specialized in Americas trade and employing 1,400 people in the hemisphere.

But nowadays, instead of visiting offices for garment factories or supermarket chains, he is likely to be lobbying on Capitol Hill or accompanying Central American ambassadors in Miami to advocate for DR-CAFTA.

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Perez-Jones is a believer. The shipping industry veteran, who is Cuban-American, sees closer integration with the United States as the best way for countries in the Latin American region to strengthen their democracies and avoid a return to leftist regimes or instability. And he sees no better way to boost US businesses' competitiveness.

"If we don't solidify integration, then trade in this part of the world will be controlled by a China or an India--but not the United States," he said in an interview at a table stacked with files on DR-CAFTA and interrupted by calls from Washington officials.

Perez-Jones, who is also president of the Washington-based business advocacy group Caribbean-Central American Action, surely sees short-term gains for Seaboard from DR-CAFTA. Many garment companies are waiting for approval of the pact before they invest in fabric and sewing operations in Central America, and their new business should increase cargo on Seaboard ships and boost revenues for its new logistics unit.

The DR-CAFTA region already accounts for one-fourth of Seaboard's business. The company mainly hauls apparel supplies from the US to DR-CAFTA nations and hauls back finished garments, as well as melons.

"We need the two-way trade," Perez-Jones says. "We're not just going to take apparel out and take empty containers back." Approval of DR-CAFTA would help Seaboard's business grow 5 percent to 7 percent this year and perhaps 10 percent next year, cementing the company's spot as the single largest carrier at the Port of Miami-Dade, he says.

But that is just a tiny part of a larger vision. Once DR-CAFTA passes, Perez-Jones sees a US free-trade pact with Colombia soon to follow, boosting trade with a South American neighbor that has roughly the same population as the DR-CAFTA region, but higher levels of income and economic activity. And he sees an FTAA (the hemispheric Free Trade Area of the Americas) agreement ratified in the long term.

Other transport execs share the free-trade dream, including Juan Cento, who heads Latin America and Caribbean operations at FedEx Corp.'s Miami hub and who also is pushing for DR-CAFTA on Capitol Hill and beyond.

"We need to continue with the idea that the Caribbean Basin is the US 'third border,' and the United States needs to nurture its backyard," Perez-Jones said after one of their advocacy trips. "DR-CAFTA is a stepping stone, and it's vital."

--DH