President Donald Trump’s call for taking control of Greenland and taking back the Panama Canal is a welcome sign that after years of neglect, we are going to put America’s front yard first. And it shouldn’t stop there.
An America First engagement with the Western Hemisphere is critical for our national and economic security.
After years of neglect from the United States, countries across the region are slouching towards Beijing.
Peru opened a $1.3 billion megaport that expanded China’s maritime Silk Road to America’s doorstep.
Argentina is host to a Chinese space observatory that U.S. Southern Command called an “extension of China’s military arm.”
And while Cuba has effectively collapsed, which may necessitate the United States assuming control, Beijing operates at least four spy facilities there with impunity — despite our sanctions.
Just think: Cuba is a mere 90 miles from my home state of Florida and the Chinese are sweeping up American communications and collecting intelligence on U.S. military training and operations. And Biden’s only response was to remove Cuba’s state sponsor of terrorism designation.
In Honduras, President Xiomara Castro weaponized the state to go after political opponents, appeased China by dropping diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, and threatened to expel the U.S. military after President Trump announced an ambitious plan to finally tackle the migrant crisis. All while the Biden administration did nothing.
Worst of all, President Joe Biden turned a blind eye while Venezuela jailed American citizens and operates a narco-terrorism network with its FARC and cartel allies that uses cocaine and other drugs as a weapon against the American people.
And just days before President Trump took office, Nicolas Maduro felt confident enough to threaten to “liberate” Puerto Rico from the United States. And, once again, Biden did nothing.
When Biden took office in 2020, the message from the White House was “the adults are back in charge.” And as he leaves office, his administration argues that it successfully “harnessed diplomatic tools to craft tailor-made partnerships” to advance America’s interests.
The last four years show that this couldn’t be further from reality.
Biden’s absenteeism cemented partnerships that produce little results and leave the United States vulnerable.
In his confirmation hearing for secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned about governments in the Western Hemisphere that “censor and even prosecute domestic political opponents.”
Trump’s executive order on ending the weaponization of the federal government should not end at our borders. The Biden administration expanded this campaign of lawfare beyond our borders and made picking winners and losers, and seeing opposition parties rolled up into prison central to their foreign policy.
This is exactly the type of behavior on display in the Dominican Republic, which the Biden administration has praised as a “democratic bright spot.” All the while, Dominican President Luis Abinader allowed his country’s runways and airports to be central to Maduro’s cocaine drug trafficking superhighway to the United States and Europe.
As Border Czar Tom Homan put it: “The Biden administration’s coddling of the Dominican government has gotten us nothing, aside from more cocaine, fentanyl, gangs and illegal immigrants on American streets.”
On his first day in office President Trump stated: “Latin America needs us much more than we need them.” All existing relationships and arrangements should be on the table to help our neighbors understand this new reality.
The 90-day pause on all foreign aid is a good first step and will give Secretary of State Rubio and his team the opportunity to assess which countries are deserving of our aid and which countries are aiding and abetting China.
Retaking the Panama Canal is logically next — something my father, former Sen. Connie Mack of Florida, called for in 1988 when he was a member of House of Representatives. The U.S. government should use all the tools at its disposal to reassert American leadership in the Western Hemisphere, including expanding Section 301 investigations beyond Nicaragua to include other countries such as Honduras.
And at the top of the chopping block should be the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
Ending CAFTA-DR and supporting Costa Rica and El Salvador, our real allies in the region, will send a clear message to Latin American leaders who have gotten used to Biden’s feckless leadership: You’re either with us, or against us.
Instead of nearshoring in Latin American countries who side with China, we should be steering investment to Puerto Rico through new manufacturing tax incentives as our economic pillar in the Caribbean.
The “Trump Doctrine” for Latin America is a clear vision that will reassert the role that President James Monroe first articulated for the United States. In the new administration, we will finally see America lead a region that has been neglected for far too long.
Connie Mack IV is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented Florida’s 14th congressional district.
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