Rubio Says US Has No Position Yet on Keeping Nicaragua in CAFTA-DR
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who advocated for removing Nicaragua from CAFTA-DR in 2021 while he was a senator (see 2106140023), told a reporter in Costa Rica that the Trump administration has not yet decided how to deal with Nicaragua's participation in the free trade agreement.
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While there is a mechanism for the U.S. to withdraw from the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, the pact doesn't require that participating countries remain democracies. The planks on governance address corruption that would affect international trade and investment, not free elections or an independent judiciary. The reporter noted there is no clause in the treaty on expelling a member country.
"Now, when it comes to CAFTA, the administration has not taken a position on exactly what role Nicaragua will have within an agreement that existed to reward democracy," Rubio replied. "And today we must acknowledge that Nicaragua is not a democracy. It doesn’t work as one. But we need to study that carefully because there are impacts with removing a country, and it could have an impact on neighboring countries who are part of that arrangement."
He added: "But that is something that we’ll take very seriously, but for now, we have not established an official position, because today is my two-week anniversary in this position, and I think it will take longer than two weeks to determine this."
The Biden administration undertook a study of Nicaragua's violations of labor rights, human rights and the rule of law, suggesting they could burden U.S. commerce, but apparel industry interests said that removing duty-free benefits for Nicaraguan apparel is what would harm U.S. commerce (see 2501090014).