Free Trade Agreement Between Nicaragua, China Begins – By Reuters (VOA News) / Jan 1, 2024
Nicaragua and China on Monday formally started trading under a new free trade agreement, allowing the Central American country to export some 71% of its products into the largest Asian market and free of tariffs.
The exports will include meat and seafood, such as fish, shrimp, lobsters and sea cucumber, as well as sugar, peanuts and rum, state media reported. Among non-food items included in the agreement are leather, charcoal, wood, and automobile parts.
The agreement excludes Chinese goods that could be problematic for the key Nicaraguan industries, such as meat and its offal, coffee, rice and sugar.
President Daniel Ortega, who has governed Nicaragua for the past 17 years, defying protests and cracking down on dissents, called it “the best Christmas present” during his speech on Dec. 22.
CONTINUE > https://www.voanews.com/a/free-trade-agreement-between-nicaragua-china-begins/7420479.html
