Trump on Latin America: "We don't need them - they need us"

[Redpossum]

Trump on Latin America: 'We don’t need them – they need us'

US president's remarks indicate his forthright approach to future policy; Trump insists he will regain control of Panama Canal, sends troops to Mexican border, but Marco Rubio’s eye will remain on wider region.

www.batimes.com.ar

 

[daveholman]

A manifestly true and obvious statement.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Typical ignoramus populist political banter.

America is riding on the coats of the foreign reserve currency of the world. It's currency status allows it to fund it's sky high deficits with pitifully low interest treasury bond auctions because foreign countries need to put all the dollars they are earning from their exports somewhere to keep their own currencies from appreciating. This makes the USA the trade deficit chief of the world. This is America's role. It is a debtor nation, run by debt. It's currency is created by debtor loans issued by banks.

USA doesn't need Latin America because it has no fiscal constraints requiring an export model. It can afford to simply consume, import and borrow money through foreign auctions. It's deficits, trade imbalance and devaluations are exported to the rest of the world, who have little choice but to use it anyway to conduct most foreign trade.

USA however certainly needs Panama to not turn into Haiti or have a bunch of Houthis bombing shipping barges, which Panama seems to be doing a fine job at.

USA also needs a cheaper source of labor with minimal transport costs, which Mexico does a fine job at too.

There are many roles Latin America plays that Trump is too ignorant to research. He sadly represents what America's global role has turned many of it's people into... ignorant, obese, egotistical, balance sheet bankrupt extortionists who have no idea how most of the world works.

 

[Redbeanz]

… and probably have no idea of punctuation, either.

Not defending drumpf or his posse; just don’t like the generalization.

 

[daveholman]

… and probably have no idea of punctuation, either.

Not defending drumpf or his posse; just don’t like the generalization.

Likewise not defending any particular president, it's just a fact - The USD being the world's currency is not an accident. It's the result of 150 years of stable government and a culture that values free markets and trade (on a comparative basis, it's not all that free in practice).
100 years ago, Argentina was a serious competitor to the US. It's economy was larger than Germany or France, and growing faster. It should be (and can be) the leading economy of the Southern Hemisphere. All it needs is a decade of good governance.

 

[Redpossum]

Likewise not defending any particular president, it's just a fact - The USD being the world's currency is not an accident. It's the result of 150 years of stable government and a culture that values free markets and trade (on a comparative basis, it's not all that free in practice).
100 years ago, Argentina was a serious competitor to the US. It's economy was larger than Germany or France, and growing faster. It should be (and can be) the leading economy of the Southern Hemisphere. All it needs is a decade of good governance.

Given that Brazil has 5 times the population and 5 times the GDP of Argentina, that seems highly unlikely to me.
But I do sincerely applaud your optimism.