Maize farmers, in particular, will need aid.Over the past decade, the Central American countries have been liberalising their economies; none has an average tariff higher than 10%.
Even now, Japan seems to want to keep tariffs high.
They classified economies as closed if they displayed any of five features: high import tariffs, high non-tariff barriers, a socialist economic system, a state monopoly on important exports, or a big gap between official and black-market exchange rates.
A preoccupation with short-term fiscal balance has, for instance, kept tariff rates high.
But the official said the administration aimed to set the tariff level high enough to offer relief for the industry.
This was seen to indicate that the tariff was high enough to provide a substantial profit.
Hong Kong has no tariffs on imports, for instance, whereas China assesses tariffs as high as 25percentt for some garments.
Citizens complained of a new protective tariff and higher taxes.
Last month, a government trade panel recommended tariffs as high as 40percentt on some steel imports.
