Brazil and Costa Rica reach agreement on sugar safeguards

Brazil and Costa Rica reached an agreement on offsetting the safeguards that the government of the Central American country applied to imports of Brazilian white sugar. The decision took place last Friday, according to a joint note released by the Ministries of Economy, Foreign Affairs and Agriculture. After a safeguards investigation that began in 2019, Costa Rica imposed, in August of the following year, an additional surcharge of 34.27% on the Brazilian product. Without reaching an agreement to avoid restrictions on bilateral trade, Brazil suspended, in November 2020, concessions for the import of certain agricultural products originating in Costa Rica. The measure was supported by the Safeguards Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the agreement signed on Friday, informs the joint note, Costa Rica committed to granting, during the remaining period of the safeguard - it will be in force until August 19, 2023 -, an import tariff quota in the total volume of ...