Turning up heat, US targets Nicaraguan sugar imports

By PAUL WISEMAN and GABRIELA SELSER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration dropped Nicaragua from a list of countries that can ship sugar to the United State at low import tax rates, another attempt to put economic pressure on the authoritarian government of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.  The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Wednesday night put out the list allocating quotas to 39 countries for just over 1.1 million metric tons of raw sugar cane. The quotas cover the budget year 2023, which starts Oct. 1. Nicaragua, which got a quota of 22,114 metric tons this year, was excluded from the 2023 list.