The following excerpt is from Chapter 4 — Latin America: Navigating the Turbulence of ORF Global Quarterly: Disruption and Recalibration.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy toward Latin America sought to revitalise the Monroe Doctrine, originally issued by United States (US) President James Monroe in 1823 with the aim to prevent extra-regional powers from intervening in the Western Hemisphere. The doctrine positioned the US as the guarantor of hemispheric autonomy, thereby implicitly asserting US supremacy in economic, diplomatic, and military affairs across the region.
What has been described as the ‘Donald Trump Corollary’ to the Doctrine, as articulated in the National Security Strategy of 2025, emphasised the need to “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets.” Although no countries were explicitly identified, the corollary was primarily directed at China. The Biden administration had already characterised China as a great-power rival, posing threats to the US “economically, technologically, politically, and militarily;” the Trump administration similarly frames its approach as one of deterrence and balancing against Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere.
China’s economic and military presence in Latin America is expanding, prompting the US to pursue countermeasures. It is too early to predict whether US policies in Latin America aimed at curbing Chinese influence will succeed. Other extra-regional actors, ranging from the European Union (EU), a supranational entity, to countries such as India, are simultaneously deepening their engagement with the region. The US could strategically leverage these relationships to reinforce its own position.
American foreign policy toward Latin America has long been shaped by the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, now revived in direct response to China's expanding presence in the region. Learn more about what this renewed contest means for the hemisphere, and how extra-regional actors are quietly reshaping it in ORF Global Quarterly: Disruption and Recalibration.