Economy
Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation
Guatemala should compete for American supply chains, not for American patience. Roberto Arzú brings more than three decades of business experience to the argument that jobs at home are the most effective foreign policy either country has.
The United States is Guatemala's most important commercial partner, and the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) already gives Guatemalan producers preferential access to that market. The problem has never been the agreement. It has been everything around it: slow ports, unreliable electricity, insecure roads, unpredictable courts and a business environment where connections outperform competitiveness.
Roberto Arzú's background is in business, not bureaucracy. His view is that Guatemala does not need to be given anything — it needs to stop losing contracts it should already be winning.
Nearshoring is a window that will not stay open
As American companies move production closer to home and away from strategic dependence on distant suppliers, Central America has a genuine opportunity: proximity, time zones, a young workforce and existing trade preferences. Textiles and apparel, agro-industry, light manufacturing, medical supplies, packaging and business services can all scale in Guatemala.
Capturing that investment requires unglamorous work — permits issued in weeks instead of years, customs that clear containers predictably, trained technicians, and the certainty that a signed contract will be honored by a court rather than renegotiated by an official.
Infrastructure and energy
- Ports and logistics. Modern, audited port operations on both coasts, with transparent concessions and published performance data.
- Roads. Corridors that connect production zones to ports, maintained under contracts that survive changes of government.
- Electricity. Competitive, reliable generation and transmission, with regional interconnection so industry is not priced out.
- Digital connectivity. Broadband as industrial policy, including for services exports outside the capital.
Competition instead of privilege
Roberto Arzú's economic argument is inseparable from his anti-corruption argument. Monopolies and cartel arrangements protected by political influence raise costs for every Guatemalan business and every American company that tries to enter the market. Breaking privileges is not hostility to the private sector; it is what makes a real private sector possible.
Guatemala needs the resolve to break privileges, confront political-criminal mafias and return the state to its people.
Why this is an American interest
Every factory that opens in Guatemala is a set of families that no longer needs to consider the journey north. Every reliable Guatemalan supplier is one less link in a supply chain exposed to strategic rivals. Economic cooperation is not a concession to Guatemala — it is the least expensive migration and security policy available to the United States.