Published March 19
President Barack Obama begins a four-day Latin American tour Saturday with the aim of re-establishing U.S. leadership in the hemisphere at a time when China’s clout is rising fast from Santiago to São Paulo.
The trouble is, Mr. Obama, who meets with Brazil’s new President Dilma Rousseff Saturday in Brasilia and will also visit Chile and El Salvador, brings little to offer the region in key areas from trade to immigration reform.
Mr. Obama will have trouble checking China in a region the U.S. has long considered—to many Latin Americans’ chagrin—its backyard.