Nicaragua

The other direction

What America sells to Nicaragua

$2.4B in 2025 — a trade rupture cuts both ways, for American producers as well as American prices.

Policy in motion

Tariff status: a moving target

U.S. tariff policy toward Nicaragua has changed 5 times since 2025. This page tracks it.

1. 2026-02-24

   IEEPA reciprocal terminated — Section 122 replaces it, Section 301 survives

   In effect

   Executive Order 14389 (Ending Certain Tariff Actions) terminated the IEEPA tariff duties effective February 24, 2026, replacing Nicaragua's 18% reciprocal rate with a 10% Section 122 temporary import surcharge (Proclamation 11012). The separate Section 301 measure rests on different authority and remains in force.

   91 FR 9437 →

2. 2025-12-10

   Section 301 action targets Ortega government's rights record

   In effect

   A USTR Section 301 determination found Nicaragua's labor, human-rights, and rule-of-law practices unreasonable and imposed a phased tariff on non-CAFTA-DR-originating Nicaraguan goods — 0% from January 1, 2026, rising to 10% in 2027 and 15% in 2028, stacking on the reciprocal tariff — while exempting CAFTA-compliant apparel and coffee.

   Source ↗

3. 2025-08-07

   18% rate takes effect — no deal reached

   In effect

   Executive Order 14326 set the post-pause Annex I reciprocal rates; with no bilateral agreement, Nicaragua's 18% reciprocal rate took effect August 7, 2025.

   90 FR 37963 →

4. 2025-04-10

   Elevated reciprocal rates paused to 10% for 90 days

   In effect

   Executive Order 14266 suspended the higher country-specific reciprocal rates — including Nicaragua's 18% — back to the 10% baseline for 90 days.

   90 FR 15625 →

5. 2025-04-05

   Reciprocal tariff regime begins — Nicaragua assigned 18%

   In effect

   Executive Order 14257 imposed a 10% universal reciprocal duty effective April 5 and an 18% country-specific rate for Nicaragua scheduled to take effect April 9, ending duty-free access for much of its apparel and coffee trade.

   90 FR 15041 →

Reference

The country itself

Central America N Caribbean · Geography, people, economy, and government — public-domain data from the CIA World Factbook.

The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821, and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. By 1978, violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought a civil-military coalition to power in 1979, spearheaded by Marxist Sandinista guerrillas led by Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador prompted the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista Contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. After losing free and fair elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, ORTEGA was elected president in 2006, 2011, 2016, and most recently in 2021. Municipal, regional, and national-level elections since 2008 have been marred by widespread irregularities. Democratic institutions have lost their independence under the ORTEGA regime as the president has assumed full control over all branches of government, as well as cracking down on a nationwide pro-democracy protest movement in 2018 and shuttering over 3,300 civil society organizations between 2018 and 2024. In the lead-up to the 2021 presidential election, authorities arrested over 40 individuals linked to the opposition, including presidential candidates, private sector leaders, NGO workers, human rights defenders, and journalists. Only five lesser-known presidential candidates from mostly small parties allied to ORTEGA's Sandinistas were allowed to run against ORTEGA. He then awarded the Sandinistas control of all 153 of Nicaraguan municipalities in the 2022 municipal elections, consolidating one-party rule.