Central America consists of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize. Each of these countries is struggling with industry and they have reported to the World Bank annual trade deficits. Mexico is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Panama Canal was built a century ago to allow for commercial transit between New York City and the State of California. The American economy is affected by trade deficits in Latin America.
The nature of the trade deficits is that each country reports an annual decline in exports. Ideally industry in Central America can be revitalized. If a country cannot sustain the domestic demand for goods and services then of course there will be a need to import. This is what is happening. Industry in Central America is not sustainable and there is domestic demand for goods and services.
Mexico has a gross domestic product above $1.2t USD. Guatemala reported a GDP of $59b USD, Costa Rica reported a GDP of $50b USD, Panama reported a GDP of $46b USD, El Salvador reported a GDP of $25b USD. Honduras, Nicaragua, and Belize have economies smaller than that of El Salvador.
Mexico and Guatemala have populations of more than ten million people. The rest of the region reports per country populations of less than ten million people. Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize have populations of less than five million people. Mexico has a city with twenty million people. Guatemala has a city with three million people. The rest of the region reports largest cities under three million people. Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico have life expectancies over 75 years. Nicaragua has a life expectancy of 75 years.
Mexico has an army of 325,000 soldiers. The rest of the region reported smaller armed forces personnel totals. Guatemala has an army of 42,000 soldiers, El Salvador has an army of 32,000. The rest of the region reported per country armies smaller than that of El Salvador. Mexico has a land area of 2m square km. Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala have land areas above 100,000 square km.