Panama and Costa Rica engage in “mini trade war” over blocked exports

For Latin American standards, Costa Rica and Panama are seen as socio-economically stable countries. Far above the world’s worst in terms of human development — ranking 68th and 67th in HDI terms, respectively — neither country were among the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and their economies posted good GDP growth figures in 2019, before the coronavirus crisis. 

But after sitting on opposite sides of economic and migratory issues in the region, and disagreeing on the crisis in Venezuela, Costa Rica and Panama are now dealing with a mini trade war.

At the beginning of 2021, the Costa Rican government went to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to complain that their neighbors were illegally blocking the entry of Costa Rican products into Panama.

The tiff began in February 2020, when Panamanian...