So Trump will likely get his way in more cases than not. But he shouldn’t celebrate just yet, because the short-term payoff of strong-arming Latin America will come at the long-term cost of accelerating the region’s shift toward China and increasing its instability. The latter tends, sooner or later, to boomerang back into the United States.

"Our job—where we can'is to provide Latin America with a choice," a U.K. government minister said on Thursday.

Latin American leaders have canceled a summit to discuss Donald Trump's migrant crackdown, as the region weighs the risks of openly confronting the firebrand US president. But Honduras was forced to cancel the meeting after no prominent regional leaders apart from Petro confirmed their attendance.