Costa Rica Trade Deficit Hits $2.9 Billion; Data Gaps Remain

Costa Rica’s goods trade deficit reached US$2,898.22 million from January through September 2026, preliminary Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) data show. The published figures don’t identify company profits or worker wages, and they don’t explain how much of the gap came from weaker exports rather than stronger imports.

Through August, the cumulative deficit stood at US$2,396.24 million; through July, it stood at US$1,957.33 million. Subtracting those totals puts September’s monthly gap at about US$502 million, compared with about US$439 million in August. That made September’s calculated gap roughly US$63 million wider, about 68% above the average monthly deficit of about US$300 million during the first eight months.

What the trade figures show

The BCCR table is titled Balance comercial acumulado and draws on customs records from the Dirección General de Aduanas. The bank adjusts the raw customs figures for processing services performed for third parties, maintenance and repairs. It labels the series FUES and marks figures from January 2025 onward as preliminary.

The table reports cumulative balances, not separate September export and import totals. September’s and August’s monthly gaps come from calculations based on those cumulative figures; the bank doesn’t state them directly. So the available data don’t establish whether September’s wider gap came from falling exports, rising imports, or both.

The figures also lack a comparison with the same period in 2025. Earlier values may change because the BCCR marks the series preliminary. As of the report, the bank hadn’t specified a release date for its October trade balance.

Exports and the tariff

On 24 September, Comex, Costa Rica’s Foreign Trade Ministry, reported that goods exports reached US$15.68 billion from January through August, up 4%, or US$655 million, from a year earlier. Comex and export-promotion agency Procomer supplied those export totals; their series is separate from the BCCR trade balance.

Precision and medical equipment accounted for US$7.29 billion, or 46% of goods exports, and rose 1%. Electrical and electronic exports rose 18%, while plastics fell 5%. These figures don’t report the wages, employment or profits tied to those export categories.

North America received US$7.47 billion, or 48% of exports, down 2% from a year earlier. Exports to Asia rose 25% to US$1.11 billion; Europe increased 10% to US$3.45 billion; Central America rose 9% to US$2.77 billion; and South America increased 8% to US$308 million. Trade Minister Indiana Trejos called the 4% export growth “favourable” given geopolitical and trade uncertainty.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed a 12.5% tariff on certain Costa Rican export goods on 23 July. Comex said it took effect on 24 July, replacing a temporary 10% surcharge. The tariff followed a Section 301 investigation into rules against forced-labour imports in 60 economies. Coffee, pineapple, bananas and orange juice remained excluded, and Comex said it added more products to the exemption list.

The available figures don’t separate exports by U.S. tariff treatment, so they can’t show how much the tariff contributed to the 2% decline in exports to North America. Comex hadn’t announced when it would publish export totals including September. The reported data contain no figures on organized labor or worker responses.