ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency with an electoral mandate to reverse the domestic and international decline of the United States. The Reagan administration relied heavily for advice on Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga, long a White House favorite, who argued that US assistance should be tailored to halt the Communist offensive in the Caribbean. Several senators and representatives toured El Salvador and returned with warnings against US support for the ruling junta, and congressional reaction to the Caribbean Basin plan was subdued at best. President Reagan asked for congressional authority to grant duty-free treatment for twelve years on the export by Caribbean Basin nations of all products save for textiles and certain apparel items. Most Caribbean leaders, the representatives claimed, found the crude East-West focus of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) irrelevant and condescending. After many delays and some additional changes in the trade and tax portions of the bill, Congress passed the CBI on August 5, 1983.
