During the two last decades, Costa Rica’s trade policy has shifted from being one with a high level of protection into one that promotes openness and active trade negotiations internationally.

By 1985, the US government granted trade concessions to several countries in Latin America coming out of debt crisis, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a independent mechanism through which Costa Rica exports duty-free products to the US to this date, was created.

Later, in 1990 Costa Rica joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and since then they have actively participated in multilateral negotiations concerning the elimination of tariffs, and at the same time, in numerous bilateral trade agreements with its most important trade partners. In 1994, the first Free Trade Agreement as such was negotiated and ratified with Mexico, and since then, Costa Rica started an aggressive venture in international markets with significant governmental support.