The Dominican Republic–Central America–United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR; Spanish: Tratado de Libre Comercio entre República Dominicana, Centroamérica y Estados Unidos de América, TLC) is a free trade agreement (legally a treaty under international law).

Originally, the agreement encompassed the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and was called CAFTA.

The CAFTA-DR constitutes the first free trade agreement between the United States and a small group of developing countries.

The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras have also approved the agreement.

They are all the current members of CAFTA-DR. El Salvador became the first country to formally implement CAFTA, which went into effect on March 1, 2006, when the Organization of American States (OAS) received signed copies of the treaty.

[6] The goal of the agreement is the creation of a free trade area similar to NAFTA, which currently encompasses the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

CAFTA-DR is also seen as a stepping stone towards the FTAA, another (more ambitious) free trade agreement that would encompass all the South American and Caribbean nations as well as those of North and Central America except Cuba.

In January 2002 U.S. president George W. Bush declared CAFTA as a priority and received "fast track" authority from Congress to negotiate it.

In May 2004, the Salvadoran American National Network, the largest national association of Central American community-based organizations in the United States, expressed opposition to CAFTA, which they claimed was not ideologically motivated: "As immigrants, we have a deep understanding of the potential benefits of improved transnational cooperation.

We would welcome an agreement that would increase economic opportunity, protect our shared environment, guarantee workers' rights and acknowledge the role of human mobility in deepening the already profound ties between our countries.

[8] In Guatemala mass protests were violently repressed by the government and strikes occurred in Costa Rica in opposition to the trade agreement.

Furthermore, many Catholic bishops in Central America and the United States opposed the treaty, just as many social movements in the region.

[9] To create an FTA, governments pledge to grant market access to foreign firms by reducing and eventually eliminating tariffs and other measures that protect domestic products.

[10] If a dispute over an actual or proposed national rule cannot be resolved after a 30-day consultation, the matter may be referred to a panel comprising independent experts that the parties select.