In recent weeks, immigration has once again risen to the forefront of the American political dialogue since President Donald Trump began to vocalize his objections to the latest ‘caravan’ of Honduran immigrants heading towards
What is TPS?
In December of 2014, United States President Barack Obama made a monumental announcement that he planned to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba after the 50-year embargo. The embargo was to be kept in place, but steps were to be taken to loosen it. An embassy was to be built in Cuba to increase diplomatic ties. Measures were taken to increase financial freedoms between the two countries.
Years of uneasiness and distrust define the relationship between the United States and Cuba, a trend which continues today. While some strides have been made to improve their interconnection, there is still a Cold War sentiment that plagues discussions, not to mention many are still in support of Castro. During former President Obama’s administration extreme efforts were made to change with Cuba but are now being changed by President Trump’s office. While some fractions of Obama’s policy still remain, the language used by Trump is disconcerting and does not instill a positive future.
This article was written as part of the course “Latin American Economic Development” offered by Professor Marla Ripoll, Department of Economic, University of Pittsburgh.
The United States Treasury Secretary announced on last March that President Donald
Trump signed an executive order banning all transactions within the United States or by US
citizens that involve Venezuela’s new cryptocurrency. The petro, which was Venezuelan
president Nicolás Maduro’s plan to combat the rising hyperinflation and devaluation of the
As 2017 unfolded, the Mexican tourism sector was booming. For the majority of the year, the country was seeing a 20 percent average gain in international passenger arrivals (following a three-year positive trend), and American Airlines Vacations reported a 25 percent rise in demand for Mexican beach destinations (Navarro & Cattan 2017). However, a travel warning issued on August 22 of last year by the United States State Department proved to be destructive.
Understanding the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico can be confusing. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States, but not a state. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, yet do not have a say in presidential elections.
The election of Donald Trump caught everyone by surprise. Leaving aside the unprecedented nature of his candidacy, polling aggregators had pegged his chances at 20 percent, at the most optimistic. Exactly how Trump managed to beat the odds is still being examined and debated, but it seems clear that a substantial shift in the behavior of blue-collar and rural whites was key to his victory.
Controversial even then, the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1992 and went into effect in 1994, gradually eliminating most tariffs and other trade barriers on products and services circulating between Mexico, Canada and the U.S.
It has been a while since a strikingly populist candidate has been a major contender in a presidential election in the United States. Many think of William Jennings Bryan, the three-time nominee of the democratic party at the end of the 1800s, as one of the only other strongly populist presidential candidates in American history (Ramone, 2010). President Trump’s campaign can fairly be described as populist through his rhetoric against the elites on Capitol Hill, his appeal to working class voters, and most importantly his outsider status as a non-politician.
