How Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is reshaping America’s strategy in Latin America

How Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is reshaping America’s strategy in Latin America

Donald Trump’s second term has marked a striking return of US strategic attention to Latin America. Long overshadowed by wars in the Middle East and rivalry with China, the region has re-emerged as the centre of gravity for Trump’s foreign policy priorities. A sweeping naval deployment in the Caribbean, the most muscular American show of force in decades, has become the clearest symbol of this shift. The task force — equipped with Tomahawk-capable ships, special forces and air strike capacity — is ostensibly aimed at drug-running cartels. Yet its presence simultaneously pressures Venezuela, challenges Chinese influence and signals a restored US sphere of influence, the Financial Times reported.

Senior officials describe this shift as a “recommitment of resources to our backyard,” a deliberate recalibration that places the western hemisphere at the core of US strategic thinking. In the administration’s view, migration, fentanyl trafficking, Chinese investments and political realignment across the region cannot be managed from afar. They demand a hemispheric strategy that prioritises proximity over global dispersal.

Echoes of the Monroe Doctrine in a new century

The intellectual blueprint behind this pivot borrows heavily from a familiar playbook. The nineteenth-century Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers against encroaching on the Americas. Theodore Roosevelt expanded it through gunboat diplomacy. Trump’s approach — labelled the “Donroe Doctrine” by admirers — draws on both traditions but adapts them for a twenty-first-century audience wary of long wars and military quagmires.

Analysts describe it as a lighter, modern form of gunboat diplomacy: aggressive shows of force, targeted strikes and sharp economic pressure, but without the large troop deployments that alienate Trump’s political base. The aim is to demonstrate uncontested US primacy without triggering the costs of occupation.

This logic also explains Trump’s personal fascination with ideas once dismissed as outlandish — annexing Canada, occupying Greenland or seizing the Panama Canal. They reflect a worldview in which the US secures its future by tightening control over its hemisphere rather than dispersing power globally.

Immigration, drugs and the politics of control

At the heart of the Donroe Doctrine is a domestic driver: immigration. Trump has cast uncontrolled migration from Latin America as the country’s core national-security threat. That framing supports both his military actions at sea and his harsh border policies on land. The closure of the US–Mexico border to illegal entrants, sweeping deportation raids and threats of tariffs on Mexico and Brazil reflect a singular demand for compliance.

On narcotics, Trump has gone further, turning the metaphorical “war on drugs” into a literal one. US forces have destroyed dozens of suspected drug-running vessels, killing more than eighty people. Human-rights groups argue the policy violates international and domestic law. Polls show Americans are deeply divided, while many Latin American governments remain silent — caught between domestic frustration with cartels and fear of appearing subservient to Washington.

Allies rewarded, adversaries punished

Trump’s map of the hemisphere is sorted into friends and foes. Argentina’s Javier Milei, a like-minded libertarian reformer, has been rewarded with a multibillion-dollar US credit line that rescued his currency markets during a volatile political moment. Conservative leaders in Paraguay, Ecuador and El Salvador have enjoyed warmer ties, though financial rewards remain limited.

Left-wing governments have fared worse. Brazil faced 50 percent tariffs after Lula refused to interfere in Jair Bolsonaro’s legal troubles. Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, a frequent Trump critic, saw his government portrayed in a Trump ally’s dossier as a target for future pressure. Venezuela, long a US adversary, now faces an American naval presence on its doorstep, with Trump repeatedly calling Nicolás Maduro illegitimate and dangling the prospect of force without spelling out the endgame.

A strategy with power — and limits

The Donroe Doctrine has unsettled leaders across the region, reviving long-standing fears of US dominance. Some see it as an opportunistic mix of border politics and domestic messaging disguised as foreign policy. Others believe it signals a durable shift, with forthcoming US national-security documents expected to prioritise the hemisphere more explicitly than at any time in decades.

What remains uncertain is whether Trump can translate intimidation into lasting alliances or economic influence. Analysts warn that without meaningful investment — the kind China has made through infrastructure and long-term financing — the US risks relying solely on pressure rather than partnership.

For now, Trump’s approach marks a dramatic reorientation: a president turning away from traditional global commitments in order to reshape America’s immediate neighbourhood. Whether it stabilises the hemisphere or deepens resentment depends on what comes next — and on how long the Donroe Doctrine endures.