Friday Reading List - 31 January 2025
If the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be early tariffs on Mexico. If he doesn’t, it means six more weeks of trade war threats.
Good morning.
My World Politics Review column this week discussed Trump’s expansionist foreign policy and the threats against the Panama Canal.
This week’s newsletters:
Monday - The Petro feud puts Trump's coercion-first strategy into practice
Tuesday - 20 themes to map Trump's LatAm policies
Wednesday - Ecuador - Polls and prediction markets show a Noboa lead
Thursday - Six Stories - Includes comments about the planned Venezuelan legislative elections as well as two pre-mortems for Ecuador’s upcoming election, one if Noboa wins and the other if he loses.
Thanks to everyone who subscribes and reads.
Reading List
Inter-American Dialogue - Money in Politics: The Role of the Private Sector in Strengthening Transparency and Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean
Washington Post - As Trump shakes up global politics, Mexico could be most affected
Bloomberg - Destabilizing Mexico Would Make the US Less Safe and Wealthy
Brazilian Report - With Trump’s second term, a new chapter in Brazil-US relations
Bloomberg - Narcos Fuel Illegal Gold Mining in Brazil, Destroy Amazon Rainforest
AP - Amazon's advocates fear Trump's return means little US help to protect rainforest
Economist - Brazil’s ragged finances are holding back its green ambitions
Economist - Can Brazil’s left survive without Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?
NYT - Inside a Chaotic U.S. Deportation Flight to Brazil
Washington Post - Venezuela’s exiled leader asks Trump not to cut deportation deal with Maduro
FT - Chevron to lobby White House to keep Venezuelan oil licence
AP - Kristi Noem revokes deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans
Bloomberg - Venezuela Pushes Fertilizer Plant Sale in Challenge to Colombia
NYT - Inside Colombia’s Crisis Over Trump’s Deportations - Petro cannot be happy about an article that portrays Uribe as the person who solved the crisis
The Atlantic - Trump’s Colombia Spat Is a Gift to China
Bloomberg - Colombia's Petro Showed Just How Not to Face Trump
ICG - Colombia: From “Total Peace” to Local Peace
Razon Publica - Catatumbo: el recrudecimiento de la guerra y los retos de la Paz Total
Bloomberg - Milei's Culture War Means Less to Him Than Argentina's Economic Revival
CBS News - Trump eyes asylum agreement with El Salvador to deport migrants there
Americas Quarterly - What Trump Really Wants in Panama
BBC - Trinidad and Tobago: Authorities grapple with 'crime culture'
The Atlantic - Strong-Arming Latin America Will Work Until It Doesn’t
WSJ - Marco Rubio: An Americas First Foreign Policy - “Making America great again also means helping our neighbors achieve greatness.” - Policy disagreements aside, this is a good line. Far better than Trump’s “We don’t need them.”
Thanks for reading
Have a great weekend!
Alternative caption: It feels like we wake up every morning to the same tariff threats.