To continue on topic and analyze these 100 days of the Trump administration, we now welcome Juan Carlos Valarezo, chair of the International Relations Department at the Catholic University of Ecuador. Hello, Juan Carlos, it's our pleasure to have you in from the south. We've been taking an overview of these first 100 days; how would you describe Trump's approach to this new term in office?
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00:00And to continue on topic and to analyze this 100 days of the Trump administration,
00:05we now welcome Juan Carlos Valareso, chair of the International Relations Department
00:09at the Catholic University of Ecuador. Hello, Juan Carlos, it's a pleasure to have you here
00:14in From the South. Hello, thank you for having me. So, Juan Carlos, we've been taking an overlook
00:20into this first 100 days. How would you describe Trump's approach to this new term in office?
00:26Well, I think there are no words to describe this new term, as it's been very unpredictable.
00:35I mean, I think most of us analysts and the people in general were expecting a drastic change in US
00:44politics. But I don't think we expected this much change in such a short period of time. And on top
00:52of it, these are changes that are drastically shifting and changing the international relations
00:58environment. I mean, we only see the trade tariffs and the massive deportations as two actions that
01:08have totally shifted the situation in the neighboring countries. We can talk about Canada,
01:15Mexico, but also in the world with the trade tariffs, where every country in the world has been
01:20imposed what he considers to be fair tariffs. But in a general perspective, experts have already
01:27called them as very dangerous as to how they can change the economic situation in the world.
01:37Definitely major changes in a very small amount of time. And also, I would like to ask you regarding
01:44the Latin American and Caribbean region in particular. Many times it's been said that among
01:48the dispute between the United States and China, this region is of particular significance. How would
01:55you describe the relations of this new administration with this region of the world?
02:00Well, it's very interesting because one of the goals that Donald Trump has is precisely to,
02:08according to his motto, make America great again. But it's also well known, widely known, that most of
02:15the American economy depends on China and in Asia in particular. And this is something that we cannot
02:23really foresee the impact of his decision. I mean, we're talking about a president who's been in power for
02:28100 days. And he signed more than 140 presidential decrees in different topics, of course, but it tells
02:37you that the amount of drastic change that he's implementing in the government, that's an average
02:45of more than one decree per day. And we're talking about different elements like education and social
02:53security, immigration, commerce, trade, and all of this, I don't know if he's, you know, very aware of
03:03the impact of having so much change so quickly. We can see many of the even though you were, you began
03:11your note by saying that he was in the rally in Michigan. But at the same time, many of the polls
03:19about the satisfaction of Americans with their president, say that he's already the worst rated
03:24president with less than 40% of approval in less in 100 days. That's the lowest that any president
03:32has had in the history of the United States. Now, of course, you were mentioning about within this
03:38point, migration as one of the main issues, not just to understand the new administration's
03:44relations with Latin America, but also within the United States and this increasing disapproval.
03:50How do you see the next few months and years continuing on this topic? Do you think that the
03:56government is going to escalate these policies? Or have they been just a matter of the first few
04:02months? How do you see this developing? Well, I see many scenarios happening. I see a government,
04:09Donald Trump, decreasing the severity and the extent of his policies. But I also see a society that is,
04:18you know, already saying enough. I mean, the protests that we had from the American citizenry,
04:27where they went to the streets and protested in every single state, in all the 50 states of the Union,
04:34and they demanded for, you know, more transparency and for more awareness of the type of policies that
04:43are being implemented. So in the future, I see there are two things happening, or either Donald Trump
04:49listens to the people and to the experts, right, economic experts, and also social policy experts,
04:57and decreases the amount and the severity of his policies. Or I see a population that will make
05:05him here. Because, you know, in the end, if anything, Latin America is precisely the region in the world
05:12where we have experience with social protest and, you know, social unrest, motivating the
05:19activism of people demanding their governments to be more aware of the social reality that their people
05:28are living. Definitely something to continue monitoring closely. Thank you so much, Juan Carlos,
05:34for joining us here in From the South. I appreciate your insight on these topics.
05:38Thank you. Always a pleasure. This was Juan Carlos Valarreso, the Chair of the International Relations
05:45Department at the Catholic University of Ecuador, discussing the first 100 days after Trump's term
05:51in office here in From the South.