What could Donald Trump's return mean for Latin America?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Even before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose huge trade tariffs on Mexico, deport millions of undocumented Latino migrants out of the United States and crack down on the flow of drugs like fentanyl from Latin America into the US. And he's threatened to take control of the Panama Canal and re-name the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.

He has criticised the BRICS group of developing nations – which includes Brazil – for floating the idea of a new currency to challenge the dominance of the US dollar in international trade. And he has praised Argentina’s maverick right-wing president Javier Milei for cutting state expenditure.

So what will Trump’s second presidency mean for Latin America – a region that used to be known as “America’s back yard”?

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Presented and produced by Gideon Long Additional reporting by Vianey Alderete in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

(Picture: The border wall on the US-Mexico border, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico October 23, 2024. Credit: Reuters)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service with me, Gideon Long.
0:05.7	All this week, we're looking at what Donald Trump's return to the White House means for the rest of the world.
0:11.3	And today, we're focusing on what used to be called America's backyard, Latin America, from Mexico's long border of the United States, right down to Chile and Argentina.
0:21.4	President-elect Trump hasn't always been too complimentary about his Latin American neighbors,
0:26.2	accusing them of sending their bad hombres, their criminals over the border into the U.S.
0:31.5	Here's his vision of the United States.
0:34.5	This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. In recent days, Trump has threatened to
0:41.2	take control of the Panama Canal and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. He wants
0:47.2	Mexico to crack down on illegal migration and on the trade in drugs like fentanyl into the U.S.
0:52.9	He says he'll impose hefty tariffs on Mexican imports.
0:56.8	It is a very bad decision.
1:00.8	To have a commercial war is going back to the 19th century.
1:05.4	For the rest of Latin America, a second Trump presidency is perhaps more nuanced.
1:09.8	This is an opportunity for the U.S. to expand engagement.
1:13.8	I very much hope that there is emphasis on increasing investment in the region.
1:18.6	Trade.
1:19.3	We really need to work with the countries of the region.
1:22.6	That's Donald Trump and Latin America,
1:24.2	here on Business Daily from the BBC World Service.
1:30.0	I have a lot of respect for Mexico, by the way. A lot of people said, oh, he doesn't like, I love
1:34.0	Mexico. And I love the Mexican people. I've had thousands of Mexicans working for me.
1:40.6	I sell apartments for millions of dollars to people from Mexico. They love me. They love me.
	...

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