Costa Rica drops bid to join Pacific trade pact, sacks trade minister - The Straits Times

Costa Rica's President Laura Fernandez said the removal of foreign trade minister Indiana Trejos was due to lack of transparency.

SAN JOSE - Costa Rica's government has withdrawn its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a major trans-Pacific trade pact, and dismissed its foreign trade minister, president Laura Fernandez said on Oct 28.

Fernandez said the removal of foreign trade minister Indiana Trejos, who had participated in the negotiations as deputy minister during the previous administration, was due to lack of transparency. The president did not say who is due to replace Trejos.

The decision to scrap the application comes after protests from Costa Rica's producer groups, especially from the agriculture sector.

The CPTPP is a free trade bloc of 12 nations across the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Europe that accounts for nearly 15% of global gross domestic product.

“Although it might seem like an excellent opportunity, its full content was declared secret by the negotiators to the point that almost no one knows what it entails,” Fernandez said in a video posted on social media.

Costa Rica submitted a request to join the CPTPP in 2022 and held more than 100 high-level meetings to build consensus among members. In November 2024 the bloc formally invited the Central American country form part of the CPTPP.

Since then, Costa Rica has reviewed its regulations against the agreement's rules and negotiated market access for goods and services.

The CPTPP went into effect in 2018 as an offshoot of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, following the United States' departure from that proposed trade bloc. REUTERS