The News
Ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump taking office in January, countries in the Global South are taking their own approaches to prepare. Mexico has ramped up a crack down on drug trafficking and illegal border crossings, while some African analysts believe the continent could benefit from Trump’s “naked transactionalism.”
For some nations in the Global South, an isolationist US could make space for developing countries to expand their influence, particularly China, however, other countries with the closest economic ties to the US, like Mexico, may be left in a more vulnerable position.
SIGNALS
Mexico attempts to appease Trump ahead of inauguration
Mexican authorities announced their biggest-ever fentanyl seizure and 5,200 migrant detentions Wednesday — a week after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened the country with sanctions unless the flow of drugs and people across the southern border was stopped. Separately, Trump has also proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican exports — almost 80% of which go to the US. The combined affect of these threats has hit the Mexican stock market, weakened the peso, and contributed to a downgrading in Mexico’s credit rating — although analysts have warned that US reliance on Mexico means both countries would suffer economic consequences if Washington imposed such restrictions.
African trade could stand to benefit, analyst argues
Arguing in Foreign Affairs, a prominent Kenyan analyst posited that the incoming Trump administration could bolster Africa’s US ties, switching up Washington’s overriding focus on “aid, humanitarianism, and democracy promotion,” Ken Opalo wrote. US President-elect Donald Trump’s “naked transactionalism” could see the US pursue more bilateral trade agreements with African nations, including potentially reviving deals from Trump’s first term that were later deprioritized by current US President Joe Biden’s administration. On the other hand, Trump’s mercurial nature could lead to a waning of Africa’s strategic importance to Washington. The piece came as Biden visited Angola, a trip that “would have been unimaginable five years ago,” one African executive told The Wall Street Journal.