Despite a closed border and Haiti’s protracted crisis, trade between the two neighbors on Hispaniola has proven resilient—indeed, Dominican exports to Haiti have surged.
New data reveal a significant increase: Dominican exports to Haiti rose 32.3% in the first eight months of 2025, reaching $775.8 million, despite political and security challenges.
Behind the headline number lie two divergent trends.
On the one hand, exports under the “national regime”—goods manufactured domestically in the Dominican Republic—soared by more than 52% and now account for more than two-thirds of sales to Haiti. Leading items include cement, rebar, and soybean oil—staples for construction and basic food needs that continue to find buyers despite the turmoil.
On the other side, free-zone exports—traditionally dominated by textiles—declined.
Shipments of T-shirts, jerseys, and other fabrics fell by nearly 12%, a drop that likely reflects the Haitian manufacturing sector’s struggle to operate under persistent instability.
The commercial relationship is also marked by a deep imbalance.
While Dominican exports are thriving, imports from Haiti have collapsed. Haitian goods sold in the Dominican Republic—mainly T-shirts, textile twine, and ethyl alcohol—have plunged by nearly 58% this year, a telling indicator of the country’s economic asphyxiation.
This pattern underscores Haiti’s structural dependence on its neighbor.
The implication is that Haiti faces increased vulnerability as its own export capacity erodes, deepening its reliance on imports from the Dominican Republic for essential goods and exposing it further to external shocks.
For years, Haiti’s trade balance with the Dominican Republic has shown a large and persistent deficit.
Haitian voices have consistently condemned the imbalance in bilateral trade—an imbalance that has long favored the Dominican side and has grown worse as Haiti’s economy falters amid political instability and violence.
The issue is not only the imbalance itself but also the Dominican Republic’s role as a major transit point for Haiti’s imports.
That dynamic has fueled frustration in Haiti and prompted restrictions on the passage of trucks carrying non-Dominican goods through Dominican ports en route to Haiti.
In short, while the border is closed to people, Dominican goods continue to flow. This situation has two key implications: it highlights the resilience of economic ties, but it also exposes Haiti’s growing vulnerability, as the country struggles to maintain its export activity even with its closest trading partner.
In summary, Haiti relies more on Dominican products, despite the official border remaining closed.
