Why are they going after Latin America so hard?
I think those are mainly
optics; they backed down against both Colombia and Mexico.
Illegal immigration management and border control are standard processes that were there even before Trump.
In reality, neither the desired tariffs against Mexico nor the humiliating transfer of immigrants to Colombia succeeded.
Also, it could be said about Panama too. The leader just gave some perfunctory ceremonial concession about BRI,
Whereas all core interests with China remained unchanged. Trump is just good at creating fictional narratives.
And Trump and his team let that slide, as they also don't have energy for Latin America either.
At most, they will demand some
symbolic things that Trump could spin for his dumb followers.
If they were real about going after the Western Hemisphere, they wouldn't have backed down.
Although the threat of cartels is a real deal. They could escalate against them at any time.
Latin America = Place for Trump to "act tough". His administration won't sweat that area.
Except for Mexican cartels. After all, they are indirectly killing 100k Muricans per year now.