A DEEP perplexity. That, says a senior Latin American official, describes his region’s attitude to the government of President Donald Trump. What Latin American leaders do not feel is fear, awe or a sense of shared ambition to do great things. Lexington is in Panama, in the press pool accompanying Mike Pence on the final leg of a four-country tour of the region, also taking in Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
The single most striking impression of this tour is its smallness. Mr Pence, a man so disciplined and loyal to his boss that his favourite phrase is “As President Trump has said”, has asked each government in turn for modest, and in some cases puzzling, things. He has not described grand visions for pan-American cooperation of the sort once espoused by President George H.W. Bush, who called for a free trade area of the Americas stretching from Alaska to Patagonia.
Mr Pence has focused on policies that matter immediately to Mr Trump back home: sanctions on North Korea, more pressure on the autocratic...Continue reading
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