Costa Rica Risks Losing
Exemptions
Most of the agricultural goods
and some of the industrial ones that Costa Rica exports to the United
States are not subject to tariffs, but they would be so if Costa Rica
does not accept the Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) or
two years after it becomes effective.
U.S. assistant Trade Representative Christopher Padilla said that the
benefits that the U.S. grants through the Caribbean Basin Initiative
(CBI) will be withdrawn.
Currently, Costa Rica exports some US$1 billion of products that benefit
from the CBI tariff exemption.
The U.S. had requested from the World Trade Organization an extension of
the CBI, which benefits the Caribbean Common Market nations, Central
American countries, and the Dominican Republic, through 2008, but the
proposal is opposed by nations such as India.
Therefore, said Anabel Gonzalez, one of the former CAFTA negotiators for
Costa Rica, it would be better to ensure the benefits through the FTA
than to risk losing them.
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