The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a trade agreement between the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Trade representatives from these Central American countries signed CAFTA in August 2004, and the Dominican Republic joined in 2005 (it is now offi cially abbreviated CAFTA-DR). CAFTA is targeted at reducing or eliminating trade barriers among the countries for many sectors, including information technology, agriculture, construction, pharmaceuticals, automotives, medical equipment, and services.