Would Cuts to the Int’l Affairs Budget Hurt U.S. Interests in Latin America?

˙ Latin America Advisor

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly wants to slash funding to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development by 37 percent, while also pouring an additional $54 billion into the country’s defense budget. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers quickly criticized the cuts, however, saying they would hobble U.S. influence in the world. What would such cuts, and increased defense spending, mean for the United States’ role in Latin America and the Caribbean? Should the U.S. military have a larger role, with the State Department taking a smaller role, in the hemisphere? What are the implications for the region if more U.S. foreign policy is conducted through a military and security lens rather than through traditional diplomacy?

See our Q&A  with U.S. Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; James Jay Carafano, vice president at the Heritage Foundation; Gen. Douglas Fraser, retired U.S. Air Force general and former commander of the U.S. Southern Command; and Amb. James R. Jones, member of the Advisor board, chairman of ManattJones Global Strategies and former U.S. congressman and ambassador to Mexico.

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