The Fluctuating Relationship between President Trump and Four Latin American and Caribbean Countries
- La Voz Latina
- 22 hours ago
- 6 min read
Written by: Kayleen Ramos
Throughout his first and second terms as president, Donald Trump has juggled tense relations with various foreign countries and their leaders. From his comment calling former Canadian President Justin Trudeau “two-faced” to his tweet where he dubbed the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jung Un, with the nickname “little rocket man”. He’s even described El Salvador, Haiti, and several African countries as “shithole countries.”
President Trump has had no problem speaking his mind on foreign affairs. Though very few countries have faced ups and downs with Donald Trump, like the Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Here is a look back at the relationships Trump has controversially maintained with four Latin American and Caribbean Countries.
Antigua and Barbuda:
Following the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump, Prime Minister Gaston Browne condemned the violence and sent a “personal message of goodwill” to Trump.
In 2025, Trump announced an expansion of his “travel ban” to include Antigua and Barbuda. Effective as of 2026, this ban in Antigua and Barbuda prevents travel to the U.S.
In a statement released by the White House, the Trump administration stated that countries that are included in the ban have shown “persistent and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation (the U.S.) from national security and public safety threats.”
In the same ban, there is a temporary suspension on several types of visas for Antiguan and Barbudan nationals, among others.
As of writing this article, Antigua and Barbuda hold a level one (normal travel precautions) travel advisory according to the U.S. Department of State. Their travel advisory level is the same as Canada, Switzerland, Japan, and Zambia.
El Salvador:
In 2018, Trump pushed to remove Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for around 200,000 Salvadorans. The administration’s reasoning was that TPS was originally given due to a 2001 earthquake, and that they should be able to return to El Salvador safely now. Then-President of El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to intervene, but they refused.
The current Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, ushered in a new era. From 2019 to now, Trump has repeatedly praised Bukele for his fierce actions on crime and his efforts in sending asylum seekers back to El Salvador.
There were some rough spots in Bukele and Trump's relationship. During a GOP convention in 2024, Trump suggested that the low crime rate in El Salvador was caused by Bukele sending criminals, particularly murderers, to the U.S.
Bukele quickly responded via Twitter by saying that he was going to take the “high road” and focus on his country instead. This small stint of bad blood did not last long.
Since then, Trump and Bukele have been incredibly close. In 2025 and 2026, the Trump administration sent hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador’s questionable Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison. Bukele has welcomed this and continues to praise the administration's immigration efforts.
At some point, they both were in hot water for the illegal deportation of Kilmar Ábrego Garcia. This led to a series of legal problems for the Trump and Bukele administrations. Garcia was eventually released back into the U.S.
Mexico:
In 2015, during the announcement of Trump’s first presidential run as a Republican, he accused Mexico of “not sending their best [people.]”
He said that Mexicans who were immigrating to the U.S. were “rapists,” “bringing crime,” “bringing drugs,” and that he assumes that “some are good people.” He has continued spreading this rhetoric.
During his first presidency, Trump touted that the U.S. would build a physical “wall” spanning nearly 2000 miles across the southern border (between Mexico and the U.S.). His goal was not only for the U.S. to build a physical wall, but also for Mexico to pay for it.
Currently, only a fraction of the wall has been built and the government has allocated at least $15 billion tax-payer dollars thus far to the project. Following a meeting with Trump, then-President Enrique Peña Nieto said that Mexico would not pay for the wall.
Two other former Mexican presidents (Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon) and the former Mexican foreign minister (Claudia Ruiz Massieu) shared similar sentiments towards Mexico being demanded to pay for the wall.
In 2025, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” was signed into law. It allowed $46.6 billion taxpayer dollars to be spent on the construction of the southern border wall. Although Mexican President Claudia Shaunbaum disagrees with the idea of a border wall, she seems more willing to work with the U.S. on this issue than previous Mexican administrations.
For instance, she sent the Mexican military towards the southern border to curb illegal border crossings and has extradited drug traffickers to the U.S. This was following Trump's threats of an increase in tariffs because, in his eyes, Mexico had allowed too many people to cross the southern border, drugs were pouring into the U.S. from Mexico, and that Mexico had violated a 1944 water treaty.
Following those tariffs, Mexico threatened to retaliate while attempting to keep a cordial relationship. Trump eventually removed the tariffs from the U.S. towards Mexico after some negotiation.
After some back and forth, Trump and Shaunbaum seem to have a more stable relationship compared to other Latin American and Caribbean counterparts.
Puerto Rico:
In 2018, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria, a particularly devastating storm that killed nearly 3000 people and received a slow response from the President.
When asked about the lack of help from the Trump administration, then-Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulin Cruz said that the response from the administration “is a stain on his presidency” and that the “Trump administration killed Puerto Rico with neglect.”
Trump claims he did a "fantastic" job with the efforts in Puerto Rico. The controversy continued when Trump was recorded throwing paper towels at the Puerto Rican hurricane survivors in a relief center.
Following the 2017 hurricane, Puerto Rico was also hit with several more storms such as Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and Hurricane Isaias in 2020. Those storms also received slow responses from the Trump administration.
In 2019, Trump tweeted that he was the “best thing to happen to Puerto Rico,” that Puerto Rico received $91 billion dollars for Hurricane Maria from the U.S. government, and that Puerto Rico only likes taking money from the U.S. government. Those tweets escalated the already tense relationship between Trump and leaders within Puerto Rico.
In 2020, Miles Taylor, a former DHS official during Trump's presidency, accused Trump of calling Puerto Rico “dirty” and “poor” and believed that the U.S. should try swapping Puerto Rico for Greenland.
Taylor was not the only former DHS official to accuse Trump of degrading Puerto Rico. Elaine Duke, the former acting secretary of DHS, said that Trump had thought that the U.S. should sell Puerto Rico and that his ideas were “as a businessman.”
In 2024, during a campaign rally in New York, Trump had invited Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe to speak. Throughout his speech, Hinchcliffe made offensive remarks about immigrants and the Latin American community. He said that there was a “floating pile of garbage in the middle of the ocean” called “Puerto Rico.” His comments backfired on Trump and caused immediate negative feedback from the Latin American community.
In the days after this ordeal, Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania. During this rally, Trump said that “nobody loves our Latino and Puerto Rican community more than I do.” Those comments did little to silence the fierce backlash he received from the Latino community.
Puerto Rican artist Nicky Jam had originally endorsed Trump but quickly rescinded his endorsement following Hinchcliffe's comments. In contrast, Anuel AA, a Puerto Rican rapper, had also endorsed Trump, but has not vocalized any continued support nor did he denounce the comments from Hinchcliffe.
Though Trump, as of recent, has been relatively stagnant with his relationships with Latin American and Caribbean countries, there is no question that this administration has had headlines with the issues that Latinos and Caribbean people in the U.S. are directly impacted by.
Whether it be the racially charged ICE raids or the disenfranchisement spreading across the U.S., Latinos and Caribbean people are facing more and more difficulties within this administration.
So, whether Trump has a fantastic relationship with Latin American and Caribbean countries or not, he also has Latinos and Caribbean people in the U.S. who he must focus on having a relationship with as well.
Comments