Browse Data and Analysis

The United States is a major trading partner with the Dominican Republic (DR). The DR is the largest economy in the Caribbean and the seventh-largest economy in Latin America. Since the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect for the DR in 2007, U.S. agricultural exports to the DR have increased from $1 billion in 2007 to $2 billion in 2024.

On March 12, 2025, the Government of Egypt (GoE) filed a ninth addendum to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) – G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.9 – informing interested parties that it was excluding imports of milk and dairy products from the scope of its Halal certification requirements.

Egypt has released a pair of Government Decrees, several World Trade Organization notifications, and a revised Egyptian Standard in recent months on the shelf-life validity period for frozen beef liver and other products.

On September 19, 2024, the Government of Egypt filed an eighth addendum to the World Trade Organization's (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) -- G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.8 -- informing interested parties that the time period during which imported milk and dairy products that are not accompanied by a Halal certificate will be permitted to enter Egypt has been extended until December 31, 2025.

On June 27, 2024, the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry signed Decree No. 361/2024. The Decree extended the shelf-life validity period for imported frozen beef liver from seven to twelve months and for frozen fish from six to ten months. The decree is valid for six months, as of July 1, 2024, and expires on December 31, 2024.

Egypt's economy is under pressure due to rising inflation and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- Egyptian food prices are rising and U.S. dollars are increasingly hard to access.

On August 8, 2023, the Government of Egypt filed a sixth addendum to the World Trade Organization's (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) -- G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.6 -- extending the requirement for halal certification for imported milk and dairy products until December 31, 2023.

On June 26, 2023, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry (MTI) signed Decree No. 233 /2023.

On June 16, 2023, Egypt notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of a new halal requirement and procedure for food products via a Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) addendum notification.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

The government of Egypt has yet to publish or notify an official statement regarding the application of halal certification on dairy past the April 1 deadline. However, the industry reports that another extension from fees has been granted for as much as a year.

Egypt notified of new halal requirements and procedures for food products. This was disclosed via a Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) fourth addendum notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The notification waives the halal certification requirement on milk and dairy products until April 1st, 2023.