In his first two weeks in power, President Donald Trump has made good on many of his controversial campaign promises, one of which has directly struck Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest country. In reasserting his pledge to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it, President Trump has signalled a new era in US-Latin American relations. After more than two decades of friendly administrations promoting democracy and free trade with the region, the US now has a government that sees Latin America in unfavourable terms. Though it is unclear what new policies the Trump administration will adopt toward the region, the prolonged period of improving relations between it and Washington is grinding to a halt and will probably see a reversal in the years to come.
Though the travel ban on persons coming from seven Muslim-majority countries has captured worldwide attention in recent days, Trump has announced a series of other policy changes that will also reshape the world order. Some reforms will likely end up in court and others will need Congressional ratification. But since that Congress is Republican-controlled, and assuming Trump’s nomination of conservative judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court gives conservatives a majority there, many of his decisions will merely be delayed, not reversed.
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