Ellie Cook
While elected on an America-first, isolationist platform, freshly reinstalled U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have quickly homed in on Latin America.
The interactions hitting the headlines have not been positive. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, turned back U.S. military aircraft carrying deported citizens from the country, before Trump hit back in a very public threat to level tariffs against Bogotá.
Colombia then backed down, agreeing to "all" of Trump's terms "without limitation or delay," the White House said.
Closer to home, Trump's threats to reclaim the Panama Canal, a major maritime trade hub, over what the president called excessive charges on the U.S. sparked backlash from the country that has controled the canal for more than a quarter of a century.
"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr. Trump has said," said Panama's President, José Raúl Mulino. "First, because it is false, and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama."
These incidents, just days into the Republican's second term in office, complicate the new administration's task of beating back Russian, Chinese and Iranian roots taking hold in Latin America.
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