Costa Rica’s Coffee Institute said it is “closely monitoring” US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements, alluding to opportunities that could arise for the Central American country given Trump said he’d impose higher tariffs on some other major coffee exporters.
Costa Rica is among a group of countries that will face the baseline 10% tariff, which will go into effect Saturday. About 60 countries will see tariffs higher than 10%, which will go into effect April 9.
The non-state public institution said in a statement today it presumed the tariff would apply to imports on coffee, but hoped the US would continue to be an important coffee trading partner.
“While it is premature to foresee the effects of this measure, it is clear that there will be adjustments in the commercial environment for our product. For example, there are producing countries that will now have a higher tariff than ours (Nicaragua and Vietnam), and this may even open up opportunities,” it added.
Trump announced his administration would impose a 46% tariff on Vietnam and 18% on Nicaragua The Trump administration’s new package of tariffs, which by some measures are the highest in more than a century, could significantly hurt the United States’ economy and have already triggered a huge selloff in global markets
