Costa Rica’s system of free trade zones may not be “free” for much longer if a controversial tax on products and services exporters gets bundled into the government’s latest deficit reduction plan.

Costa Rica and Canada finished a fifth round of negotiations to modernize a free trade agreement between the two countries ... Issues on market access, tariff elimination for products from free zones, ...

"Taxing products that arrive through free trade as a retaliatory measure is an example of what we are willing to do," he added. Costa Rica and Panama entered a Free Trade Agreement (FTA ...