QCOSTARICA — Costa Rica hopes to soon reach an agreement with the United States to eliminate the 10% tariff applied last April to Costa Rican exports, as part of a series of levies it imposed on almost the entire world, according to an official source in the Central American country.
“One of the priorities is to seek the restoration of the access conditions prior to the tariff policy as quickly as possible. This requires dialogue between the parties to reach a satisfactory, win-win solution,” Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Manuel Tovar said.
On April 5, 2025, as part of a broader trade measure called “Liberation Day”, the United States imposed a 10% tariff on goods imported from Costa Rica. This tariff applies to a wide range of Costa Rican goods, including medical devices, coffee, and pineapples, which are key exports to the U.S. market. While the 10% tariff is lower than tariffs imposed on China, it still poses a significant threat to Costa Rica’s economy, especially given Costa Rica’s reliance on the U.S. market.
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Last week, a Costa Rican technical team met with a U.S. counterpart in Washington as a first step toward seeking an agreement.
According to Tovar, Costa Rica is the first Latin American country to be called by the United States to the negotiating table.
“We have outlined an ambitious path to hopefully reach an agreement in June or July. We are approaching this with great optimism, having sat at a table where few have sat and will sit. We are the first country in the region to sit down to negotiate. We approach this with honor, responsibility, and caution; we must know how to manage expectations,” the minister stated.
Tovar emphasized that Costa Rica maintains a close relationship with the United States, which has deepened in recent years, with cooperation in areas such as the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, as well as the promotion of cybersecurity, trade, and investment.
“Nobody likes tariffs. Beyond raising the tone of our reaction, we believe that the way forward is dialogue and negotiation, and that is the path we will follow to restore conditions,” Tovar stated.
For the moment, Costa Rica has not been affected by the 10% tariff imposed by the Donald Trump administration on Costa Rican exports, Tovar stated.
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The United States accounts for 47% of Costa Rican exports, provides 70% of foreign direct investment (fdi), and is also the main source of tourists to Costa Rica.
Furthermore, Costa Rica is a party to the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed at the beginning of the century and which came into effect in Costa Rican territory in 2007 after being approved by the population in a referendum, amid a context of high polarization in which there was no favorable political environment for its ratification through legislative channels.
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