Haitian-Dominican relations have been at their worst since a group of citizens decided to build Haiti's first irrigation canal on the Massacre River.  Faced with the backlash from the Dominican authorities, almost all of Haiti has embraced the initiative, which has awakened the patriotism of Haitians at this time of acute crisis.

Since the beginning of the conflict between the two countries, Haitians have been expressing what they want in relation to the Republic. They want to get away from their almost total dependence on the Republic, which sees Haiti as a second-rate market for products of often dubious quality. Long ago, for a variety of reasons, Haiti opted for dependence on the Republic. According to available data, in 1996 Haiti imported US$ 25 million worth of Dominican products. In the first seven months of 2022 (January to July), Haiti imported US$ 678.2 million worth of goods from the Dominican Republic. However, Haiti's export figures to the Dominican Republic remained very low, not to say insignificant.