This paper presents and empirical investigation about the productive development of the Haitian economy in the past few decades, based on the country's trade balance and its competitiveness in the world. The UN COMTRADE database was used to carry out the competitiveness analysis. The objective is to determine the level of sophistication of the products exported by Haiti, with emphasis on the level of technological innovation used in the local industry, and its development process under the structuralistic vision of ECLAC The analysis is supported by the Thirlwall's law, and it is suggested that the Haitian economy needs to carry out significant changes in its productive matrix in order to stimulate its external competitiveness, as well as the need to strengthen institutionalization in the country and to bolster the industrial policies to grow and achieve economic development.