The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy proclaims that “the United States must be preeminent in the Western Hemisphere” and promises to deny foreign powers a strategic role there. China has the most significant footprint to dislodge, and initial skirmishes have already started. But for the US to expel its great power rival, it must provide an alternative to the economic, financial, and technological roles China increasingly plays. If the so-called Donroe Doctrine is to succeed, it needs to mobilize companies and deals, not just gunboats and pressure.

For decades the US was the dominant outside investor, trading partner and commercial lender to Latin America, and US companies thrived across the region’s markets.

© Bloomberg