In 2024, Beijing signed free trade agreements with Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru. At least 20 countries in the region are connected to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” and Chinese banks have extended at least $120 billion in loans to these countries since 2005. These developments have prompted the US to significantly adjust its foreign policy.

Historically, Washington has used various pretexts to overthrow governments worldwide, often secretly or semi-secretly, when those governments sought to operate independently. The models of Venezuela and Iran show that Trump now aims to openly remove governments closely allied with China in the Middle East and South America.
Trump’s advisors have indicated that they do not want any Chinese presence in the Western Hemisphere; the region must remain fully submissive to US interests. The “National Security Strategy” announced in 2025 reflects this approach. Similarly, the US aims to shape the Middle East through Israel. Any government in these regions deemed “opposed to American interests” could face intervention by organisations like the CIA or Delta Force.

Geopolitical commentators are calling this a modern, renewed version of the United States’ old “Monroe Doctrine.” Nearly two centuries ago, President James Monroe spoke of regarding South America as a kind of colonial sphere. Under Trump, this new neo-colonial ambition is now taking shape as a completely new world order.