Donald Trump has ditched MAGA isolationism in favour of the Monroe Doctrine, a 200-year-old foreign-policy roadmap that claims American power and influence over the Western Hemisphere.
There are 35 sovereign states in the Americas, most of which are entirely or mostly in the Western Hemisphere, including all of North, Central, and South America, plus Caribbean nations, though the exact count depends on definition, but generally covers all 35 UN members in the Americas. Key countries include Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, plus numerous Central American and Caribbean nations.
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal,” Trump said on Saturday, after Maduro’s removal. “But we’ve superseded it by a lot, a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.” Officially, the Donroe Doctrine – as laid out in the recent U.S. National Security Strategy – maintains the right to “restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere” by denying “non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets.”
In that respect, it’s an explicit warning to China, which is by far the biggest international player in Venezuela, receiving more than 80 per cent of its oil exports up until this week. Trump very much wants in on that action. In his initial speech about Maduro’s capture, he referenced oil at least 20 times, because narco-terrorism.
Practically, though, the Donroe Doctrine could embolden Trump to take whatever catches his eye in this hemisphere. That same speech included a sweeping line that pledged to “protect commerce, territory and resources that are core to our (meaning America’s and not necessarily the interest of the other 34 sovereign nations in that hemisphere) national security.” Trump added, “These are the iron laws that have always determined global power, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that – barely three days after ousting Maduro – Trump has already threatened a bunch of different countries. Colombia? Its president, Gustavo Petro, is “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States” and he should “watch his ass,” Trump said. Mexico? Drugs are “pouring through Mexico, and we’re going to have to do something.” Cuba? “It’s going down. It’s going down for the count.” Greenland? “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump told The Atlantic. “We need it for defence.”
Some leaders tried to minimize the sabre-rattling. “This is just President Trump’s manner of speaking,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cautioned reporters yesterday. In an interview with The Globe, Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez insisted the U.S. is not an enemy, and “we must not be distracted by the noise.” Even Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen – who demanded on Sunday that Trump drop his “fantasies of annexation” – struck a softer tone yesterday. “You cannot compare Greenland to Venezuela,” he said. “We are a democratic country.”
Denmark isn’t so sure. Greenland is rich in rare-earth minerals crucial for everything from phones to electric cars, and its melting sea ice is opening up new shipping routes at the top of the world. “Unfortunately, I think the American President should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a TV station. She stressed that an attack on the island – which is part of Denmark – would be an attack on a NATO ally, and an attack on a NATO ally would be the end of “everything.”
Incidentally, Canada is also rich in rare-earth minerals – not to mention oil reserves and Arctic waters, resources that Trump could decide are all up for grabs in the U.S.’s half of the map. The Donroe Doctrine makes the whole 51st-state business feel considerably more perilous. So does sharing the world’s longest undefended border with a country that’s once again talking a big imperialist game.
Where the 19th-century doctrine warned external powers against encroaching in the Americas, Trump's version broadens the concept. It seeks not just to limit China, Russia, and Iran in the Western Hemisphere, but to actively assert American primacy through a mix of military pressure, economic coercion, selective alliance-building, and Trump's personal score-settling.
(YouTube & White House threatens further violent attacks on neighbouring countries)
There are 35 sovereign states in the Americas, most of which are entirely or mostly in the Western Hemisphere, including all of North, Central, and South America, plus Caribbean nations, though the exact count depends on definition, but generally covers all 35 UN members in the Americas. Key countries include Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, plus numerous Central American and Caribbean nations.
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal,” Trump said on Saturday, after Maduro’s removal. “But we’ve superseded it by a lot, a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.” Officially, the Donroe Doctrine – as laid out in the recent U.S. National Security Strategy – maintains the right to “restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere” by denying “non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets.”
In that respect, it’s an explicit warning to China, which is by far the biggest international player in Venezuela, receiving more than 80 per cent of its oil exports up until this week. Trump very much wants in on that action. In his initial speech about Maduro’s capture, he referenced oil at least 20 times, because narco-terrorism.
Practically, though, the Donroe Doctrine could embolden Trump to take whatever catches his eye in this hemisphere. That same speech included a sweeping line that pledged to “protect commerce, territory and resources that are core to our (meaning America’s and not necessarily the interest of the other 34 sovereign nations in that hemisphere) national security.” Trump added, “These are the iron laws that have always determined global power, and we’re going to keep it that way.”So it’s perhaps unsurprising that – barely three days after ousting Maduro – Trump has already threatened a bunch of different countries. Colombia? Its president, Gustavo Petro, is “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States” and he should “watch his ass,” Trump said. Mexico? Drugs are “pouring through Mexico, and we’re going to have to do something.” Cuba? “It’s going down. It’s going down for the count.” Greenland? “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump told The Atlantic. “We need it for defence.”
Some leaders tried to minimize the sabre-rattling. “This is just President Trump’s manner of speaking,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cautioned reporters yesterday. In an interview with The Globe, Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez insisted the U.S. is not an enemy, and “we must not be distracted by the noise.” Even Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen – who demanded on Sunday that Trump drop his “fantasies of annexation” – struck a softer tone yesterday. “You cannot compare Greenland to Venezuela,” he said. “We are a democratic country.”
Denmark isn’t so sure. Greenland is rich in rare-earth minerals crucial for everything from phones to electric cars, and its melting sea ice is opening up new shipping routes at the top of the world. “Unfortunately, I think the American President should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a TV station. She stressed that an attack on the island – which is part of Denmark – would be an attack on a NATO ally, and an attack on a NATO ally would be the end of “everything.”
Incidentally, Canada is also rich in rare-earth minerals – not to mention oil reserves and Arctic waters, resources that Trump could decide are all up for grabs in the U.S.’s half of the map. The Donroe Doctrine makes the whole 51st-state business feel considerably more perilous. So does sharing the world’s longest undefended border with a country that’s once again talking a big imperialist game.
Where the 19th-century doctrine warned external powers against encroaching in the Americas, Trump's version broadens the concept. It seeks not just to limit China, Russia, and Iran in the Western Hemisphere, but to actively assert American primacy through a mix of military pressure, economic coercion, selective alliance-building, and Trump's personal score-settling.
