Stakes are high for Latin America in the U.S. presidential race.

AutorMarris, Johanna

Latin America has watched in disbelief alongside the rest of the world as the US primaries have unfolded. There has been widespread shock not only to the outlandishly xenophobic comments of Republican candidate Donald Trump, but also to the weight of support for him from the US electorate, and the gaping ideological distance between him and his potential rivals from the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

The importance of the outcome of the US presidential election for Latin America is evident. Despite their relations having drifted somewhat in recent years--with US foreign policy more focused on events in the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America becoming more independent through diversified global trade relationships--they remain economically interdependent, with many mutual security, diplomatic, and commercial concerns.

Postures toward the region

Concrete foreign policy proposals, particularly with regard to Latin America, have been scarce from all three presidential hopefuls. All have principally focused their campaigns on domestic issues, with foreign policy mentions mainly concerning the Middle East, leaving their approach to the future of Latin American relations to be inferred from their wider political ideology, public comments and past record.

Donald Trump's slogan, "Make America great again," encapsulates his view of US supremacy over its neighbors, and his nativist ideology calls for US ideas to be dominant and for the US to dictate the terms in relationships with other countries, as outlined in his foreign policy speech on April 27. In general, he favors breaking relations over ceding US influence.

His comments about Mexicans when announcing his candidacy in June, which included the phrase "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, and they're rapists," provoked outrage across Latin America. His proposals to build a much larger and fortified wall along the US border with Mexico, which he would force Mexico to pay for by withholding remittances, canceling visas, and enforcing trade tariffs, have shown his contempt for cooperation on issues of mutual importance. An existing wall spans about 670 miles (1,070 kilometers) of the US-Mexico border (SourceMex, May 13, 2009). And in an interview with CNBC at the beginning of May, Trump described how a Democratic win would transform the US into "a totally different country. It will be Argentina... It will be Venezuela. You have no idea." This...

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