NewsTracker Answers for week of May 11, 2026

Q: Without explanation, the U.S. State Department stripped the U.S. visas of most of the directors of the La Nación newspaper that criticized Costa Rica’s outgoing president, Rodrigo Chaves, an ally of President Donald Trump. Where is the Central American nation of Costa Rica?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Before leaving office last week, Chaves agreed to accept up to 100 third-country deportees from the United States every month. What nation bordering Costa Rica began taking third-country deportees last year?

A. El Salvador

B. Guatemala

C. Honduras

D. Panama

D. Panama, on Costa Rica’s southeastern border, is one of the six Central American nations that have taken or agreed to take third-country deportees from the United States. Nicaragua, on Costa Rica’s northern border, is the only Central American country that has not reportedly agreed to take deportees.

Q: "We're helping our powerful economic brother in the north, because if (the U.S.) imposes a tax on our export zones, we're screwed," Chaves said about taking deportees from Costa Rica’s biggest trading partner. Which country traded the most goods and services globally last year?

A. China

B. United States

B. The United States had global trade of $7.7 trillion in 2025, compared with a total of $6.36 trillion for second-ranked China. However, China exported $1.18 trillion more than it imported, while the United States imported $901 billion more than it exported.

Q: The Trump administration praised Chaves for limiting Chinese imports, and it revoked U.S. visas for at least 15 Costa Ricans, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, for unspecified ties to China. China is the top exporter to how many countries in the Americas?

A. 9

B. 26

C. 28

D. 47

A. China was the top exporter of goods and services to 47 nations, according to 2021 World Trade Organization data. Nine of those nations, including the United States, were in the Western Hemisphere. Out of 28 nations that bought most of their imports from the United States, 26 of them were in North or South America,

Q: What does “Costa Rica” mean in Spanish?

A. Reef coast

B. Rice coast

C. Rich coast

D. Wreck coast

C. Costa Rica means “rich coast” in Spanish. In some accounts, it was named by Christopher Columbus on his last voyage in 1502, after he saw natives wearing a great deal of gold jewelry. It also may have been named 20 years later by a Spanish conquistador who stole much of the natives’ gold,