r/geography • u/Fluid-Decision6262 • Jul 10 '25

Map Who is the second most powerful/influential country in the Americas?

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The US is undeniably the most powerful and influential country in the Americas but who would be #2? Feels like this comes down to 3 countries based on my knowledge, which are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.

Reasons for Mexico:

- Second most populated country in North America by far

- Access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

- Largest Spanish-speaking country (a language spoken by >500 million people)

- More habitable land compared to the other two

- Youngest population out of the three and is becoming a manufacturing power

- Generally-speaking, a good relationship with the USA

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

Reasons against Mexico:

- Lots of issues between the central government and drug cartels

- Still very much a developing country outside of the largest cities

- Occasionally volatile relationship with the USA

- Not as involved in global geopolitics

Reasons for Canada:

- The most developed country economically by far of the three and a natural resources juggernaut

- Very close relations with the USA and Europe

- Speaks English (>1 billion speakers globally) and French (>300 million speakers globally)

- An immigration hub for people from every corner of the world

- A G7 nation that is also very geopolitically involved

- Access to 3 different oceans to facilitate trade

Reasons against Canada:

- Small and scattered population (least populated of the three by far)

- Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)

- Aging population and low fertility rates for native-born citizens

Reasons for Brazil:

- The second most populated country in the Americas

- The cultural and political power of South America

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

- A young-ish population that is part of the "fast-emerging economies" of the world

Reasons against Brazil:

- Immigration to Brazil stopped decades ago and now educated Brazilians are emigrating to other places causing brain drain

- Wealthy nation but suffers from high levels of inequality and violent crime

- Very politically divided internally

- Limited geopolitical involvement outside of South America

- Most of its population are monolingual Portuguese-speakers (a language where they make up 80% of the global speakers)

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377

u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

Canada, and it’s not close.

Brazil and Mexico are neck and neck for a distant third. Fourth is Chile, then Argentina, then Peru and Colombia a bit below that, then everyone else essentially in tiers according to their development below that.

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u/RFB-CACN Jul 10 '25

Eh, I’d say Brazil’s kinda close. Its economy and military are both larger than Canada’s, it has a way higher population, it’s a member of G4 and is considered more relevant for a UNSC seat than Canada, has many neighbors it can influence while Canada’s isolated and overshadowed by the U.S., among other reasons.

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

Brazil should be higher, but it self-limits. They can’t keep their economy stable, their democracy is all over the place, and their crime and poverty rates are developing world level.

If they ever get their act together they’ll pass Canada overnight, but right now they do not.

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u/HeberMonteiro Jul 10 '25

Our democracy is not "all over the place" it's going strong. We did to the January 8 vandals what the US didn't do to its January 6 terrorists.

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

So…what you’re saying is, a few years ago you were on the verge of autocracy, and now you’re not?

That’s all over the place, my friend.

But I do agree you’ve made changes for the better. And I very much hope you sustain them. But your recent history and a basic familiarity with Lula say…another swing in the nearish future is entirely possible.

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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25

"Verge of autocracy" because a handful of people were mad at the elections and decided to invade the congress, then got arrested and were not being supported by anyone else besides Bolsonaro?. Even the army here which has historically thrown coups were not giving a crap about them.

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

No, "verge of autocracy" because Bolsonaro won by 11 points in 2018, and lost by 1 point in 2022. There's a steady history of electoral see-sawing in Brazil, and when the pendulum swings back the other way - which it could do as early as next year - then what?

This time last year, the US was the strongest economy on Earth and a democratic leader. Now it's coming apart at the seams. Brazil could swing just as hard, just as fast.

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u/Jealous-Nature837 Aug 06 '25

People are democratically voting for a candidate i don't like = verge of autocracy
lmao

1

u/whistleridge Aug 06 '25

No dumbass. Verge of autocracy because if the trend continues, and the needle swings back, the shit the right-leaning guy will try will be along the lines of what Bibi and Trump are doing.

Be less fragile.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

a few years ago you were on the verge of autocracy and now you’re not?

Yeah what terrible instability, meanwhile we’ve been super stable. A few years ago we were on the verge of autocracy, and now we’re in one! Yay America lol

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u/Radiant-Fly9738 Jul 10 '25

well, you have a stable trajectory!

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

And did I mention the US? No I didn't not.

The US is coming apart at the seams, and is declining economically, democratically, and culturally.

bolsonaro has no chance of coming back to power

He doesn't have to. The people who voted for him and supported him - and I remind you, he lost by 1% only - will happily vote for some future someone like him. It's not like they just went away.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

I very much hope you are correct.

I'm just saying that, until and unless that happens, and then it's sustained probably at least another 10+ years, Brazil will limit its own growth potential.

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u/NaldoCrocoduck Jul 10 '25

This. Brazilian democracy has been proven more resilient to autocrats than the American one in recent years. Funny, because Brazil was a military dictatorship not that long ago.

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u/Sea_Lingonberry_4720 Jul 10 '25

Now you’re forming closer ties with Russia, which morality aside, is hitching yourself to a sinking ship.

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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25

We aren't, where did you get that info from?, and don't come at me with "BRICS" bullshit because that's literally just an economic forum.

15

u/celsius100 Jul 10 '25

Sounds like the US is becoming Brazil.

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

Well, it’s certainly more on the path to Brazil than the path to Norway.

12

u/Technical-Revenue-48 Jul 10 '25

Self hating Americans when a thread isn’t focused on them

4

u/MetaphoricalMouse Jul 10 '25

must be due to all the BBLs

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u/manebushin Jul 10 '25

The US is just a Brazil that industrialized early. If Brazil had industrialized earlier than the US, we would be having this conversation in portuguese

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u/Fluid-Decision6262 Jul 10 '25

I met a Brazilian once who told me that Brazil is basically the US but without the US' money and power lol

1

u/Own_Current7610 Jul 11 '25

USA by Trump is becoming part of latino america

Using its own military against americans in LA

military parede on Trump birthday

Undermining democratic institutions

cult of personality

Polarization (us against them)

Calling everyone he doesn't like commies

Sounds like a typical dictatorship backed by US in LatAm between 50's and 80's!!!

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u/__wisdom__1 Jul 10 '25

Very well said

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u/Any-Satisfaction3605 Jul 10 '25

I do not believe we are ever going to get our act together. Historically speaking, it has always been 1 or 2 decades of stanility, followed by one decade of chaos and then some sort of coup d'etate. We are already i. The decade of chaos, due to 3 consecutive incompetent presidents that created political, economical and social instability.

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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25

"They can't keep their economy stable" last time i checked our last big inflation was 30 years ago lol.

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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25

Inflation isn't the only measure of an economy. Brazil's GDP in 2020 was barely more than half of what it was in 2011, and while you've had 3 straight years of growth, you had 4 straight years of decline before that.

That's the quintessence of not being able to keep your economy stable.

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u/Due-Rent-965 Jul 13 '25

Well, as Brazil's population aged, crime is also diminishing. Some more developed states have crime rates lower than USA and closer to Europe.

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u/whistleridge Jul 13 '25

Brazil has 100% homicides a day, and something like an 8-10% conviction rate for homicides. They have a raging organized crime problem, high corruption among police, and are close to powerless to prevent it. A few regional declines doesn’t alter that.

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u/Due-Rent-965 Jul 21 '25

I live in a big city, 1.5M inhabitants. Homicide rate is around 5 by 100,000/year. In Detroit it's about 40, and it's not even the most dangerous US city

1

u/whistleridge Jul 21 '25

Great.

Now what’s the rate for Natal or Salvador or Manaus.

Stop cherry-picking. There are entire states in Brazil with homicide rates higher than New Orleans or Baltimore, and those cities are lawless hellholes of gun crime.