News & Commentary

At the change of administrations the community of scholars, businessmen, and foreign policy experts ask the question: What will be the impact of the new administration on Latin American policy? Attached are 3 articles that shed some light. It may be too early to tell, but there are already some fissures developing in our relationship with the countries, mostly because of potential protectionism and the approach towards Mexico. A number of Latin American countries have come out in support of Mexico in the scrap with Washington.
Latin America has always been a reservoir of good feelings and support for the United States internationally. Even Mexico, which for many years feared a close relationship with the United States, has been a good partner since the 1980s. American isolationism and protectionism will encourage Latin American countries to diversify their relations. You can hear the tinkling of champagne glasses in Beijing as the US pulled out of the Pacific Trade pact. China will now be the center of gravity for Pacific free trade. It will write the rules and reap the benefits rather than us. We would then contribute to the rise of Chinese power in the Pacific. Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Chile will be benificiaries of foreign investment because they have extensive trade agreements around the globe, which is attractive to foreign manufacturers who can thereby export to more countries. Below are 3 articles which provide insights:

Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, reviews the state of relations between the United States and Mexico. Argues that the relationship is dangerously close to the edge. “Dangerously and sadly — particularly for someone such as myself who has spent a lifetime seeking to deepen and widen U.S.-Mexico ties — the relationship is today on a knife’s edge. Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, “alternative facts” regarding trade with Mexico or the dynamics along our common border along with a toxic anti-Mexican narrative — potentially changing the accepted rules of engagement in U.S. political discourse and public policy toward its southern partner — have seriously damaged perceptions on both sides of the Rio Grande, inflaming passions and propelling jingoism and unhelpful rhetoric.”

Michael Shifter, President of the Inter-American Dialogue, analyzes the crisis in US-Mexican relations. The stakes are very high for both countries, the potential for both countries losing is high. Sample from article:
“And, ironically, undocumented immigration would spike. Mexicans workers would feel forced to flee the consequences of NAFTA’s collapse and the Mexican government could loosen its controls on immigration from Central America. (At present, seven in 10 Central American migrants headed for the U.S. are apprehended at Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.) Trump is the only one who can end this standoff. Only he can prevent lost jobs, new security vulnerabilities and a wave of illegal immigration — all of which are exactly what he aimed to prevent in the first place.”

One of the few encouraging political developments of 2016 was the Colombian government’s peace agreement with the country’s FARC guerrillas, ending a half-century of violent insurgency. How was the deal with the FARC achieved, and what lessons does Colombia’s peace process hold for political leaders elsewhere? President Juan Manuel Santos comments.