United States: Obama's tour of Latin America

Ties between the United States and Latin America are being strengthened. Just in the past few days, U.S. President Barack Obama, concluded the trip that took him to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador from March 19 to 23. Here is Barack Obama's full tour of Latin America.

Several goals were set by Obama: rapprochement between the United States and Brazil after the cooling of relations during the Lula presidency, consolidation of economic-political-trade relations with Latin American states, and dialogue on some new projects, collaborations and partnerships.

During his visit, Obama highlighted the importance of the Latin American subcontinent, which plays a growing role not only for the U.S. economy but also in the global arena, praising its progress. South America's growth also helps the United States: thanks to trade agreements with the region, the United States now exports three times as much to South America as it does to China. In the immediate future, increased demand for products and services from the United States and the consequent opening of new markets will allow U.S. companies to further expand their business, leading to an increase of two million jobs: Latin America, according to Obama, has never been more important to the United States than it is now.

Washington's intention is to double exports by 2014. Last year, exports made in USA vis-à-vis South America grew by 17%, while Brazil alone grew more than 30%, exceeding USD 50 billion. With Chile, on the other hand, whose economy grew more than 5% last year, there has been a Free Trade Treaty since 2004 that has allowed exports to the Andean country to boom to +300% since then.

During the visit to Brasilia, new arrangements were also finalized for the upcoming 2014 World Cup and the upcoming 2016 Olympics to be held in Brazil: the United States will offer its support and know-how, focusing on strategic development planning, infrastructure, security, tourism and business enterprises.

Newly elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff argued for fairer and more balanced trade relations, stressing the urgency of breaking down barriers to some Brazilian products, such as meat, ethanol, steel and orange juice. In addition, the two presidents also put on the agenda the establishment of a common strategy in the oil sector. But Brazil did not limit itself to this: fully aware of its new role in the global arena, the meeting with Obama served precisely to openly request a seat on the UN Security Council and to seek in Washington a key ally (note the common position of the BRICs who, along with Germany, abstained in the vote that led the UN to approve armed interventions against Libya). Obama himself said that faced with the new challenges of the 21st century, the UN Security Council would need reform.

The U.S. president concluded his speech in Brazil with an eloquent “We are all Americans.” The hope is that the era of Latin America's “backyard” will finally sunset.

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