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In his presidential inauguration speech on January 21, Donald Trump declared, “the golden age of America begins right now.” Part of this vision is the administration’s hawkish, expansionist imperialist agenda — a major target of which is Latin America. As we have discussed previously, the United States is facing growing economic and political crises, and declining hegemony abroad.

In this context, the Trump administration needs to subordinate Latin American countries to the interests of U.S. capital by, for example, extracting more resources and exploiting these countries’ huge working classes. This is particularly important given the growing threat of China to U.S. power, and the Asian country’s increasing encroachment in Latin America.  

The Trump administration’s imperialist agenda is already in full swing. For example, Trump used the threat of 25 percent tariffs on both Mexico and Canada to coerce both countries to ramp up their military presence at their respective borders, with Mexico, for example, promising 10,000 troops. Trump has also spoken about trying to retake the Panama Canal, revoked temporary protective status for Venezuelans living in the United States, and ordered over 1,500 troops to the U.S. border so far.

Trump has also wasted no time unleashing attacks on migrants. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has already conducted raids across the country, and migrants have even been sent to Guantanamo Bay. Another telling sign of Trump’s imperialist agenda in the region is that Marco Rubio’s first trip as secretary of state was to Central America.

Mexico has perhaps the most important role to play in terms of shoring up the U.S.’s economic and political interests in this coming period. The country is the largest single country provider of U.S. imports: last year, around $800 billion worth of goods were transported across the border, making the U.S.-Mexico border nearly one of the world’s 20 largest economies. U.S. and Mexican manufacturing are intimately connected, particularly the automotive industry.

Mexico’s relationship to the U.S. is fundamentally one of subordination. And it’s no exaggeration to say that it has profoundly shaped the working classes, economies, and politics of both countries. On this episode of the podcast, Jimena Vergara discusses the U.S.-Mexico relationship, and the role that Mexico — and Latin America more broadly — will play under the new Trump administration.

Most importantly, we discuss what’s necessary to win true liberation for the Mexican and U.S. working classes. This means not having illusions in the governing MORENA party, including in former president Andres Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and current president Claudia Sheinbaum. Neither of them represents a break with imperialism or capitalism, or with Mexico’s subordination to U.S. interests.

From the U.S. perspective, liberation means not having illusions in the Democratic Party, which offers nothing to the working class of either country and which has, like the Republican Party, helped create the deeply exploitative U.S.-Mexico relationship.

Liberation requires internationalism: unity between the Mexican and U.S. working class. On both sides of the border, we need to unite our struggles to defeat the Far Right and Trump, and his racist, chauvinist, xenophobic, imperialist agenda.

Listen to the episode on Spotify on Apple Podcasts.

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