Other nations aren’t beholden to America – but they aren’t entitled to US access or money, either. President Donald Trump is spreading that message loud and clear across the globe. From Mexico to Ukraine, and from South America to South Sudan, he has come up with a handy way to push foreign leaders into playing ball. It’s a simple choice: Do it our way or do without. So far, it seems quite effective.
It's a Southern Thing?
Having won independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan is the newest nation in the world. It’s also the latest foreign government to run afoul of the president’s deportation policies. In 2025, the small African nation has taken a page out of Colombia’s book and is refusing to accept flights of South Sudanese deportees from the states. And, just as it did with Colombia, the Trump administration has a solution.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Saturday that all visas held by South Sudanese nationals will be revoked, and no new ones will be issued. “Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States,” the US Department of State said in a statement. “Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them.”
The policy may be reevaluated once South Sudan is “in full cooperation,” the statement said.
It wasn’t too long ago that a South American country tried the same thing. As Liberty Nation News Editor-in-Chief Mark Angelides wrote in January, “Colombia made a big show of refusing to accept flights of returning illegal migrants from the United States.” President Gustavo Petro had made a series of X posts demanding deportees be treated with the “dignity that a human being deserves.” Such virtue signaling was clearly just posturing. “Trump was far from amused and immediately put the full power of the executive to work,” Mark reported. “From tariffs to sanctions – surprise, surprise – it worked. By Sunday afternoon, just a couple of hours after Trump’s response, President Petro sent his presidential plane to pick up the deported individuals in Honduras.”
From Mexico to Ukraine, the Dollar Reigns Supreme
Volodymyr Zelensky, president of war-torn Ukraine, came to America in February, ostensibly to sign a deal giving rare earth minerals to the US. The idea was that having American personnel on the ground – even civilians – would secure a ceasefire with Russia simply because Vladimir Putin wouldn’t risk killing them and instigating all out war with an actual superpower.
Instead, he seemed to try to renegotiate the deal at the White House, in front of the press, and he got quite heated in the process. President Trump and VP JD Vance were having none of it. Zelensky left with his proverbial tail between his legs – only to post on X shortly after thanking Trump for the visit and expressing his desire to work with America. Now Ukraine is scheduled to send a team to DC next week for talks on a new mineral deal.
Trump threatened Mexico with increased tariffs if the southern nation didn’t do something to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the US. President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said on social media: “We categorically reject the White House’s slander of the Government of Mexico alleging alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention to interfere in our territory.” She went on to say that Mexico doesn’t want fentanyl to reach the US – or anywhere else.
But just a couple of days after this, Mexico lauded a massive fentanyl bust near the border – the largest such bust in the nation’s history, allegedly. As many said at the time – including Trump – if they can do it now, they could have done it before. So why didn’t they?
Teddy Roosevelt often said, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Somewhere along the way, one of America’s presidents sat that big stick down somewhere and too few have been able to find it since. Perhaps President Trump found it or maybe he brought his own to Washington but, either way, he isn’t afraid to swing it.
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