Door to Central America Trade

Trade is the cement of global relationships, but it can be hard these days for smaller, poorer nations to find the trading partners they need. That’s a good reason for regional marketing alliances, as displayed in the first U.S. Central America Trade Expo, starting today at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

California investors and entrepreneurs who are unfamiliar with the linkage between Southern California and the Central American nations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama could also find opportunities at the expo, which runs through Tuesday.

Central American entrepreneurs will pitch their products--including coffee from much of the region, beer from El Salvador, processed foods from Guatemala, apparel from Costa Rica--to U.S. buyers. California industries that export consumer goods, from electronic components to home appliances, may also glean information that will help them market to Central America--and even to the 2 million Central Americans who have emigrated to Southern California over the years.

If anything, this first U.S. Central America Trade Expo should prove that commerce, to be successful, must flow both ways. Construction and engineering businesses in California could find opportunities during the workshop sessions on the $1 billion that the U.S. government has allocated to subsidize recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Mitch last fall. Roads, bridges, houses and water distribution systems in many of those nations are in need of reconstruction.

The current political realities in Washington make it impossible for the countries in the Central American isthmus to join the North American Free Trade Agreement. Until that opportunity arises, business communities will have to strengthen ties on their own. The U.S. Central America Trade Expo could be a good start.