Relationship dossier
Dominican Republic
United States
Relationship assessment
Sustained trade and security partnership, alongside disputes over citizenship and migration
Dominican Republic toward United States
+55The Dominican Republic participates in CAFTA-DR, which entered into force for the country in 2007, and cooperates with the United States on counternarcotics and regional security. Dominican government policy has also generated friction with Washington over the citizenship and treatment of people of Haitian descent.
United States toward Dominican Republic
+55The United States works with the Dominican Republic through CAFTA-DR and regional counternarcotics and security cooperation. Washington has also criticized Dominican policies affecting the citizenship and treatment of people of Haitian descent, creating a recurring point of dispute.
Overall relationship
+55The relationship has a durable cooperative foundation in the CAFTA-DR trade framework and security cooperation. This is tempered by recurring disagreements over Dominican citizenship and migration policies affecting people of Haitian descent, but the partnership remains substantially cooperative.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
The Dominican Republic and the United States maintain a sustained partnership centered on trade and security cooperation. The Dominican Republic participates in the CAFTA-DR free-trade framework, and the governments cooperate on counternarcotics and regional security. Relations have also included disputes over the treatment and citizenship of people of Haitian descent and migration policy.
Areas of tension
- U.S. criticism of Dominican policies affecting citizenship and the treatment of people of Haitian descent
- Disagreements and policy concerns related to migration and deportations
Key developments
CAFTA-DR entered into force for the Dominican Republic, establishing a durable framework for trade with the United States and other participating countries.
A Dominican Constitutional Tribunal ruling on nationality and citizenship prompted U.S. criticism and bilateral tensions over the status of people of Haitian descent.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of current bilateral security cooperation are unclear.
- The extent to which migration and citizenship disputes affect day-to-day government cooperation is uncertain.