Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she wants to review the country’s trade agreement with the United States, specifically regarding agriculture matters.
On August 5, 2004, the United States signed the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic Under the agreement, the parties significantly liberalizes trade in goods and services.
The CAFTA-DR includes important disciplines relating to customs administration and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, government procurement, investment, telecommunications, electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, transparency and labor and environmental protection.
Honduras is currently the United States 45th largest goods trading partner with U$S10.3 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2019. Goods exports totaled U$S5.4 billion; goods imports totaled U$S4.8 billion.
The agreement provides greater market access for U.S.agricultural products. The top U.S. agricultural exports to Honduras are: corn, soybean meal, pork and pork products, wheat, and rice. Beer, pork meat, dairy, chocolate and cocoa and non-alcoholic beverages are the products with the highest export growth potential. U.S. exporters enjoy a strong position in the Honduran market, thanks to the CAFTA-DR agreement. More than 95 percent of U.S. industrial and commercial goods can enter the country duty free, with the remaining tariffs to be phased out by 2025.
