Foreign Powers and Investors in Honduras 2026

HONDURAS · FOREIGN PLAYERS

Companies, lenders, soldiers and governments from abroad all hold a stake in Honduras. Here is who they are, what they bring and what they want back as of November 2026.

Honduras foreign players, from US soldiers to global lenders, shape a country of about 11 million people that depends on remittances. This guide names them, shows what each brings and says what each wants in return, as of November 2026.

The United States leads through trade, a military base and development finance. Lenders such as the IMF set conditions, while China, the European Union and the diaspora play smaller but real parts.

Four earlier Rio Times guides cover other angles, including the great-power contest, the overview, the neighbourhood and its regional role. This guide follows companies, lenders, forces and donors instead.

More coverage sits on the Rio Times Honduras page, and the profile of President Nasry Asfura explains the leader. Every figure below carries its date, and every foreign-currency amount carries a US$ value.

Who Counts as Honduras Foreign Players

Foreign players in Honduras fall into six groups: companies and investors, lenders, governments, soldiers, aid donors and the diaspora. Each group wants something different from the country.

Honduras had 11.0 million people and an economy of about US$39.6 billion in 2025, the World Bank’s data show. Real growth was 3.8% that year, the International Monetary Fund says.

The list below explains the main names in plain English. Each is explained again where it first matters.

• IMF. The International Monetary Fund, the global lender that runs a three-year programme with Honduras.
• World Bank. A global development lender; its arm IFC lends to private firms.
• IDB. The Inter-American Development Bank, a regional lender owned by governments of the Americas.
• DFC. The US International Development Finance Corporation, a US government bank that finances projects abroad.
• CAFTA-DR. The free-trade pact between the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic, in force since 2006.
• ICSID. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank body that hears investor claims against states.
• JTF-Bravo. Joint Task Force-Bravo, the US military unit based at Soto Cano Air Base.
• ZEDE. A special economic zone with its own rules, created by Congress in 2013 and struck down by the Supreme Court in September 2024.
• Honduras Próspera Inc. A US-based developer of one such zone, now suing Honduras at ICSID.

Washington, the Largest Foreign Partner

The US Commerce Department calls the United States the largest trade and economic partner of Honduras, with 36.9% of trade in 2022. More than 200 US companies operate there, the State Department says in its 2026 Investment Climate Statement.

US goods exports to Honduras were US$6.95 billion in 2025 and imports were US$5.50 billion, the US Census Bureau says. The US surplus was US$1.45 billion, and January to August 2026 shows exports of US$5.20 billion and imports of US$3.92 billion.

On 23 July 2026 the US Trade Representative put Honduras in a 10% duty group under Section 301, a US trade law. The duties apply from 12:01 a.m. Eastern on Friday, 24 July 2026, after Honduras banned forced-labour imports.

Temporary Protected Status, a US permit for people from disaster-hit countries, was set to end for Hondurans on 8 September 2025. The Department of Homeland Security estimated 72,000 Hondurans held it, and 21,000 were permanent residents by 7 April 2025.

A federal district court ruled on 31 December 2025 that the termination was unlawful. On 9 February 2026 the Ninth Circuit appeals court stayed that ruling, letting the termination take effect.

The DFC approved a US$10 million loan on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 to Financiera MiCrédito Honduras, a majority US-owned lender. At least half the money must support US-Honduras trade, such as US tractors and fertilisers, the DFC says.

The US embassy in Tegucigalpa is led by Chargé d’Affaires Colleen Hoey, a career diplomat, its website lists. The embassy also lists school-furniture deliveries to 166 schools and a visit by State Department official Caleb Orr on economic ties.

Soto Cano and the US Military Presence

Soto Cano Air Base, in the Comayagua department, is a Honduran military installation that hosts Joint Task Force-Bravo. The task force has been fully established since August 1984, its fact sheet says.

The fact sheet is dated 25 October 2021, so its figures are old. It then listed over 500 US military personnel, over 500 civilians and 20 helicopters (10 UH-60, 6 CH-47, 4 HH-60).

The task force describes its mission as partnership: countering transnational organised crime, disaster relief and training partner forces. US service members and Honduran firefighters trained on aircraft fires at the base on 4 November 2025, a US military caption records.

On Tuesday, 22 September 2026 Honduras joined 14 other governments in a Joint Statement on Defending Hemispheric Sovereignty. It targets 24 named criminal groups, including the gang MS-13 and the Sinaloa drug cartel, with asset freezes and visa limits.

The signers also plan to ask the Rio Treaty’s Organ of Consultation, a 1947 regional defence pact, to weigh joint action. The statement does not name China, and it says incoming capital should be transparent and verifiable.

Lenders, From the IMF to the Regional Banks

The International Monetary Fund approved arrangements for Honduras on Thursday, 21 September 2023, worth about US$847 million over 36 months. The Fund says the programme was extended from 20 September 2026 to 31 December 2026.

The IMF Executive Board completed the fourth and fifth reviews on Monday, 29 June 2026 and released about US$242 million. Cumulative payouts reach about US$725 million, the Fund’s country report shows.

The IMF puts the 2025 fiscal deficit at 0.7% of economic output, public debt at 45.4% and reserves at US$10.2 billion. Headline inflation rose to 5.6% in April 2026, it said on Monday, 11 May 2026.

Conditions centre on ENEE, the state power company, and on anti-corruption steps. They include a company-ownership registry ahead of a 2026 review by the Financial Action Task Force, a money-laundering watchdog.

The World Bank lists 11 projects worth US$752 million in Honduras, and its private-sector arm IFC holds a US$205 million portfolio. Poverty at the US$8.30-a-day line was an estimated 43.1% in 2025, down from 54.5% in 2019.

The Inter-American Development Bank approved a US$100 million policy loan, the first of two linked operations; its release is undated. The bank says US$60 million is ordinary capital and US$40 million is concessional, at 0.25% interest over 40 years.

The European Union has a bilateral envelope of EUR 163 million (about US$182 million) for 2021 to 2027, the European Commission says. Priorities are climate and energy, jobs and growth, and justice, with Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland in a joint green-recovery programme.

China, Taiwan and the One-China Question

Honduras switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2023. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, met Honduras’s then foreign minister in Beijing on Wednesday, 14 May 2025.

China’s foreign ministry says Honduras reaffirmed the one-China principle at that meeting. The principle holds that Taiwan is part of China, and recognising Beijing means not recognising Taipei.

More than 20 Honduran legislators from ruling and opposition parties met China’s vice foreign minister, Miao Deyu, on 11 September 2025. The group, led by Congress vice president Rasel Tomé, attended a seminar on Chinese modernisation, the ministry says.

The State Department says Honduras and China signed an Early Harvest Arrangement in February 2024, a limited first-stage trade deal. China was 12.6% of Honduran trade in 2022 and Mexico 6.1%, the US Commerce Department says.

Taiwan said in June 2026 it was talking with Honduran political and social figures. Honduras’s foreign ministry said it held no official talks, China’s foreign ministry noted on Thursday, 25 June 2026.

China’s ministry said ties with Honduras serve both peoples, and Honduras still recognised Beijing. Whether the new government keeps that course stays under What Is Not Known.

Foreign Investors and the Rules That Protect Them

Foreign and domestic investment in telecoms, power, air transport, mining, petroleum, forestry, insurance and finance needs government authorisation, the State Department says. Foreign ownership is limited in small firms and in domestic air transport.

Honduras Próspera Inc. and two US-based affiliates sued Honduras at ICSID, which registered the case on 3 February 2023. ICSID lists the case as pending, and its tribunal was formed on 29 January 2024.

The State Department says damages could reach nearly US$11 billion. It adds that the Supreme Court declared the ZEDE legal framework unconstitutional in September 2024, with retroactive effect.

Honduras left ICSID in August 2024, and President Asfura signed the convention again in Washington on Friday, 6 March 2026. It deposited ratification on Friday, 17 July 2026, and membership began on Sunday, 16 August 2026, ICSID says.

A 2022 electricity law let the state end contracts or buy plants at an undefined fair price, an expropriation risk for producers. On 31 August 2026 Congress passed a law that repeals key parts of it and begins splitting ENEE.

ENEE’s operating losses are about 1% of output and its debt nears 10%, mostly arrears to energy producers, the State Department says. Electricity remains costly and unreliable, and local outages are common.

The State Department lists a US$100 million expansion of the Port of Cortés, announced in February 2026. The Temporary Import Regime, a customs scheme for export factories, was renewed in January 2026 for 10 years.

Millicom, a Luxembourg-based mobile group that operates under the Tigo brand, lists a Honduras joint venture in its 31 March 2026 results. On 13 April 2026 its Central American unit agreed to sell its sports-content business, Honduras included, to a US media group.

The State Department calls CAFTA-DR the main framework for US-Honduras investment, with a bilateral investment treaty in force since 2001. Honduras also has investment treaties with France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Cuba and Ecuador.

Aid Donors, NGOs and the Diaspora

Net development aid to Honduras was US$551 million in 2023, the latest World Bank data point. That compares with US$11.9 billion in remittances in 2025, about 30% of economic output.

Remittances are therefore the largest foreign money flow, ahead of US$1.07 billion in foreign direct investment in 2025. The IMF says remittances and favourable export prices supported net reserves of about US$11.6 billion at the end of April 2026.

Civil-society, human-rights and anti-corruption groups receive support under the European Union’s 2021 to 2027 programme. No official list of foreign-funded NGOs was found in the primary sources checked.

The US embassy lists humanitarian deliveries, including 22 containers of school furniture for 166 schools. No total for US aid to Honduras in 2026 was confirmed.

The diaspora, Hondurans living abroad, sends the remittances that equal about 30% of output. About 72,000 Hondurans held US Temporary Protected Status, which an appeals court let end in February 2026.

What It Means for US Readers

Honduran goods entering the United States face a 10% Section 301 duty from 24 July 2026, the US Trade Representative says. The notice exempts textile and apparel goods of Honduras entered duty-free under CAFTA-DR.

A route to ICSID arbitration reopens for US investors from 16 August 2026, although the Próspera claim was filed earlier. The State Department says several commercial disputes brought by US parties in the past 10 years remain unresolved.

The State Department advisory page, read on 3 November 2026, lists Level 3, Reconsider Travel, and Level 4 for Gracias a Dios. It cites crime, protests and a state of exception that began in December 2022.

The DFC finances projects that favour US goods, so American exporters of farm inputs and machinery are a direct beneficiary. Anyone sending money to Honduras joins a flow of US$11.9 billion a year, so US status rules matter for Honduran households.

What Is Not Known

No primary source confirms whether the Asfura government will keep ties with Beijing or return to Taipei. No current task force troop figure was found, and the numbers above date from 2021.

Other exemptions in the tariff notice’s annex tables could not be read, so they are not confirmed. Court action on Temporary Protected Status after February 2026 was not checked, and the IDB loan date is unconfirmed.

ICSID does not show the Próspera claim amount, so the State Department’s figure of nearly US$11 billion is the only one here. The IMF’s plan after the programme ends on 31 December 2026 was not announced in the sources checked.

No official count of foreign NGOs and no 2026 total for US aid was found. The largest foreign stakes in Honduran power, ports and textile plants were not confirmed at primary sources.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the biggest foreign partner of Honduras?

The United States is its largest trade and economic partner, with 36.9% of total trade in 2022, the US Commerce Department says. US goods exports to Honduras were US$6.95 billion in 2025.

Are US troops based in Honduras?

Yes, Joint Task Force-Bravo operates at Soto Cano Air Base. It listed over 500 US military personnel on 25 October 2021, with no newer figure found.

What tariff does the US charge on goods from Honduras?

The US Trade Representative placed Honduras in a 10% Section 301 group on 23 July 2026, effective 24 July 2026. Textile and apparel goods entered duty-free under CAFTA-DR are exempt; other exemptions were not confirmed.

Does the IMF lend to Honduras?

Yes. An IMF programme approved on 21 September 2023 totals about US$847 million, of which US$725 million was paid by 29 June 2026.

Does Honduras recognise China or Taiwan?

Honduras recognised China as of 25 June 2026. It reaffirmed the one-China principle in 2025, and no change was found later.

Can foreign investors use ICSID in Honduras?

Honduras became an ICSID member again on 16 August 2026. A claim by a US-based developer, registered in 2023, is still pending.

How important are remittances to Honduras?

Remittances were US$11.9 billion in 2025, about 30% of economic output, the World Bank’s data show. That is far more than foreign direct investment or aid.

Sources: World Bank (remittances); World Bank (foreign direct investment); World Bank (Honduras overview); IMF (staff-level agreement, 11 May 2026); IMF (Country Report No. 26/160, June 2026); IMF (country page); Inter-American Development Bank (US$100 million loan); European Commission (Honduras); US State Department (2026 Investment Climate Statement); US State Department (travel advisory); US Commerce Department (Honduras market overview); US Census Bureau (trade with Honduras); US Trade Representative (23 July 2026); US Federal Register (28 July 2026); UCLA School of Law (Temporary Protected Status ruling, 9 February 2026); Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (25 June 2026); US Federal Register (Temporary Protected Status, 8 July 2025); US International Development Finance Corporation (9 September 2026); US Embassy in Tegucigalpa; US Embassy (Joint Statement, 22 September 2026); Joint Task Force-Bravo (fact sheet, 25 October 2021); US military photo caption (4 November 2025); ICSID (signing, 6 March 2026); ICSID (ratification, 17 July 2026); ICSID (case ARB/23/2); Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (14 May 2025); Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (September 2025); Millicom (first quarter 2026 results); open.er-api.com (exchange rate) (all accessed 3 November 2026).