Tending to neighbors
Tillerson’s Latin America trip and hard talk
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is engaged in a difficult effort to save American influence in Latin America with stops in Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica.
He faces two significant problems in doing so. The first is some of the positions the Trump administration has taken on issues of importance to Latin America. The most septic of these is probably immigration. Mr. Trump started off insulting Mexico and its president, Enrique Pena Nieto, with his comments that he was going to build a wall between the two countries and make Mexico pay for it. The Mexican president cancelled a visit to Washington as part of the exchange on that issue.
The second sore thumb is trade. Mr. Trump has been very critical of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, based on his view that it has sucked American jobs into Mexico. NAFTA renegotiations are underway among the three countries but not yet near completion, with major issues remaining, according to reports. The matter is even more sensitive for Mexico at the moment as it approaches presidential elections in July.
A third, lesser bone of contention is U.S. Cuban policy. Mr. Trump’s predecessor had drawn some of the sting from that issue during his time in office, to the relief of other Latin American countries. Mr. Trump has taken a harder line on U.S. relations with Cuba, seeking favor with South Florida Cuban-Americans.
Mr. Tillerson is working hard to row the boat back from the waterfall of more categorical, general Latin American opposition to American policies by talks with the leaders of the countries he is visiting. The matter will come to a crunch at the Summit of the Americas, to be held in Peru in April. He is acknowledging freely the fact that some 3 million jobs, a high priority for Mr. Trump, depend on trade with the neighbors. He is also stressing that the White House and Congress are working hard now to agree on common, reasonable positions on future immigration.
Another sensitive issue is the deterioration of government and life in general in Venezuela. There has been talk that the United States would favor a coup d’etat to replace the government of President Nicolas Maduro, whose rule has become increasingly painful for Venezuelans. Mr. Tillerson has come to talk about Venezuela in terms of peaceful transition instead. Latin American countries find discussion of the United States and coups in their countries somewhat traumatic, considering their history in Chile and Haiti, among others.
Mr. Tillerson’s own situation in Washington makes his repair efforts on the road more difficult. It is not obvious that he is able to speak for Mr. Trump. In addition, his own Department of State continues to show signs of dysfunction, resulting from vacant senior posts, disorganization and rumors that he himself is about to quit or be fired.
Nonetheless, U.S. relations with Latin American countries remain important for U.S. interests, and Mr. Tillerson’s efforts to keep them in some kind of repair are very much worth the effort, whatever resistance he may encounter on this trip.