Honduras president wants to renegotiate trade deal with US

Honduran President Xiomara Castro wants to renegotiate his country's 2004 trade deal with the United States , the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) reports in Capital Update.

Honduras is part of a multilateral agreement known as the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), which also includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

During a speech marking her first 100 days in office, Castro said the agreement "severely limits the country's freedom to achieve sovereignty" in the agricultural sector. She added that under the trade deal, Honduras is barred from taxing "subsidized" US agricultural products entering its market.

The NPPC indicated that the US government provides guarantees for agricultural loans, some financial support for risk management programs - crop insurance and margin coverage - and disaster relief. The organization was a strong supporter of a trade pact that eliminated tariffs on U.S. pork exports to DR-CAFTA countries.

ForeignPolicy.com reports in its Latin America Bulletin that CAFTA-DR "has limited Honduras' powers to tax subsidized U.S. agricultural products, making it harder for local agriculture to compete with U.S. suppliers."

Last year, the US pig industry shipped nearly $115 million worth of pork to Honduras.