The outlook for US-LAC relations

The LAC region was already experiencing a significant and troubling slowdown in economic growth before the coronavirus pandemic began. Broadly speaking, in the first 15 years of the 21st century most Latin American and Caribbean countries benefitted from strong global growth and an extended global commodities boom, which boosted their export revenues and domestic growth rates. Governments, including many of the centre left (the so-called pink tide) were able to redistribute income, reduce poverty, and encourage the growth of the middle classes. Annual LAC economic growth averaged 3.1% across those 15 years, with some countries registering much higher single-digit percentage growth rates in particularly good years.