The Big Stories to watch this week in LATAM
Brazil-US trade war escalates, deforestation in the Amazon spikes, and thousands of migrants stranded in Mexico make for home
LATAM Daily Wires brings you the stories to watch this week in Latin America and the big headline developments over the weekend (and in this case, Monday). If you haven’t subscribed yet, you should.
Brazil and Colombia experience sharp rise is Amazon Deforestation
Government data in Colombia and Brazil showed a sharp rise in deforestation rates in both countries so far in 2025. Lula’s government has blamed forest fires, but many critics have blamed his permissions for developmental and energy projects in the Amazon Basin.
Meanwhile, a new bill making its way through the Legislature is being described by the Brazilian environmental minister as “the biggest potential setback to environmental protection in Brazil in four decades.”
Brazil is set to host the UN COP30 Climate summit in November. UN human rights officials have called on Lula to veto the bill if it passes as expected.
But it is unclear if the President will comply. Despite his rhetoric, his policies on the Amazon have been largely pro-business.
Meanwhile, in Colombia, the government attributed a 43% increase in deforestation to illegal cattle ranching, unlicensed construction, and illegal mining in the Amazon basin, compared to the first six months of 2024.
White House tariffs Brazilian goods at 50% — highest US rate on any country in the world
As Trump’s ongoing public spat with Lula continues, the White House on Wednesday announced his intention to raise tariffs on Brazil to 50% – launching a trade war with Latin America's biggest economy, which sells large amounts of beef, coffee, steel and other products to the United States.
Brazil, which is the largest economy in Latin America, will face one of the highest US tariff rates in the world.
President Trump has repeatedly framed the tariffs as retaliation over the prosecution of his ally, right-wing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. As part of those efforts, the US State Department has also sanctioned individual politicians and judges in the country.
In the statement, the White House denounced what it called "politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship and prosecution" of Bolsonaro.
Thousands of migrants stranded in Mexico consider returning home
Thousands of migrants—mostly Latin Americans, but also from Asia and Africa— have been stranded in Mexico since January, when Donald Trump took office in the United States.
In Mexico City, some 5,000 migrants, mostly from Latin America, are currently housed in 16 shelters or in apartments in some of the capital's poorest neighborhoods, according to Emanuel Herrera, director of the Vasco de Quiroga shelter, one of four operated by the city government. The decision to house them in the city is part of a government strategy to discourage migrants from approaching the border and attract them inland, especially to the capital, according to Mexican officials in Ciudad Juárez.
But migrants have also been accumulating in the south of the country, near the Guatemalan border. In recent months, increasing numbers have decided to return home, some travelling the same land route they took to reach Mexico from South America.
The number of migrants crossing north from South America in the Darien Gap has dropped to virtually zero. Meanwhile, some migrants are headed south from Panama back into Colombia through the dangerous jungle crossing.
Many experts attribute this dynamic to a temporary effect of US rhetoric on migration, which has been accompanied with hard-line anti-migrant rhetoric. But most experts believe the drop in temporary.
Migration numbers saw a similar drop during the first year of Trump’s first term in office, and then experienced a steady climb throughout for the rest of his presidency.
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Hasta pronto, piratas!