THE TRUMP COROLLARY AND LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

The paper aims to analyze the inflections observed in United States foreign policy for Latin America and the Caribbean after the midterm elections in November 2018. The text is divided into three parts. First, the election results and some institutional implications that should affect the remainder of Donald Trump’s presidential term are discussed. In the second part, we discuss the content of what can be called, with the proper qualifications, of Trump Corollary. It also highlights mechanisms for implementing the policy for the region, with the marginalization of professional diplomacy, delegation to specific interest groups and centrality of national security agencies, especially the military. Finally, the third part of the text seeks to highlight how the corollary is being implemented with regard to the securitization of the Chinese interests in Latin America, as well as the Venezuelan crisis and the immigrant issue. Following the current path, United States tend to incur in additional loss of legitimacy and economic and political centrality in the Western Hemisphere.