The Yankees Are Back
Donald Trump and the Monroe Doctrine
America’s old, presumably dead, “Monroe Doctrine” is now back in the news, Brought back to life ever since Donald Trump’s 7th January press conference. A day after the Congressional vote confirming his election as President, he startled the world by declaring his plan to virtually annex Greenland, Canada and Panama as well as to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. All of a sudden, American newspapers, which hitherto kept any talk of the American Empire on the “down-low,” revealed that the US still abided by a policy of dividing the world between itself and other Great Powers. Damn the UN and international principle of the sovereign equality of States.
The New Post front page of 8th January couldn’t be clearer.
Let us remind ourselves that the Monroe Doctrine is a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere, asserting that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States. The doctrine was central to American grand strategy in the 20th century. It was first articulated by President James Monroe on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress. At the time, nearly all Spanish colonies in the Americas had either achieved or were close to independence. Monroe asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, and thus further efforts by European powers to control or influence sovereign states in the region would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security.
Early 19th century America could merely assert that the Western hemisphere was its sphere of influence and outside the control of the Europeans, but they did not have the naval and military power to enforce their claim. This all changed with the Spanish American War of the late 19th century. The victorious Americans compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States via the peace treaty of 1898. Additionally, the Americans used the war as a pretext to annex the independent state of Hawaii.
The net effect was most of the former Spanish colonies became American possessions. Of that lot, only Cuba and the Philippines eventually achieved independence, after much struggle and bloodshed. The Cubans, in particular, were incensed that they were denied the fruits of their War of Independence vs Spain. Under the guise of liberators, the American occupied their island and imposed a constitution which, via the infamous Platt Amendment, gave the US veto power over much of their government. That btw sowed the seeds for the subsequent Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro.
The Old Boss never went away
“Goodbye to the old boss. Welcome to the new boss”. The Americans simply replaced the Europeans as the new imperial power in the western world without resorting to direct colonial rule.
The new boss is Donald Trump. Hence the “Donroe” doctrine, according to the New York Post. The following quotes from his press conference are quite revealing:
US taking control of Panama Canal and Greenland with military action, if need be
In reply to a direct question whether he would rule out using “military or economic coercion,” Trump responded, “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this: We need them for economic security.” He warned that if Denmark resisted the US takeover of Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark), he will impose steep tariffs.
Canada joining the US as its 51st state
Trump threatened Canada with “economic force” and pointed finger at the US’ bilateral trade deficit. “Why are we supporting a country $200 billion plus a year,” he asked
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America
Is something “which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America — what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.”
Dead quiet in the Caribbean
Since Trump’s statement of intent, coupled with the dispatch of his son Don, Jr. to Greenland to sell the plan to the natives, most leaders of Caribbean countries have been dead quiet in response. This is despite the islands having a large diaspora in Canada as well as blood ties with many Panamanians, i.e. those descendants of Caribbean families whose forefathers poured sweat and blood to build the waterway. Seems these governments are clinging to the cultural mantra that “cockroach no business inna fowl fight”
By the way, this is quite unlike their loud protests of disapproval when Russia launched its Special Military Operation against Ukraine on 24th February 2022, in defense of the self-declared independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, who had been under murderous attacks from Kiev since 2014, with intensified shelling in late 2021in preparation for a major attack.
Unlike Russia, Donald Trump intends to seize territory of other countries, by “military force” if necessary, even though they are not in military conflict with America. Greenland (via Denmark) and Canada, have for decades even centuries, been military allies of the United States, all three being members of the NATO military alliance. Canada has been a peaceful neighbor of America ever since the conclusion of the war of 1812, a war declared by the United States on Britain on 18th June of that year, which nearly cost America dearly.
No hiding from America
Contrary to the “head in the sand attitude” of many in the Caribbean, historically the Americans have never been afraid to invade and occupy many of the islands in the name of national security. Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic have been repeated victims in the 19th and 20th century. Little Grenada was invaded as recent as 1983.
It is a little-known historical fact, that consistent with the Monroe Doctrine, the Americans collaborated with the British to establish a chain of military bases in several English colonies in the 1940s.
With the advent of World War II. The United States determined that the best way to protect its East Coast and its shipping lanes from enemy attack was to establish bases at strategic points across the Caribbean: this became the "Caribbean Coastal Frontier."
Cuba and Puerto Rico were already in hand, but the other sites had to be acquired from the British. The latter were hard-pressed at home and anxious not to have to defend the Caribbean colonies as well. Thus, in one of the deals of the century, they generously gave the Americans ninety-nine-year leases to eight base sites in return for fifty reconditioned but over-age destroyers.
The sites were scattered from one end of the Caribbean to the other: from British Guiana on the south to Trinidad, St. Lucia, Antigua, Jamaica, and one of the Bahamian out islands. Noted Caribbean historian, Eric Williams, in his seminal work “From Columbus To Castro” eloquently identified this as the period when the islands became the "American Mediterranean."
While the Americans gradually closed their bases in the aftermath of the, this did not deter USA’s growing domination of the Caribbean at the expense of all the former European rulers. As most of the former English colonies gained political independence, they have become increasingly dependent on America economically and militarily. Instead of the shilling, inscribed with the British lion, the preferred currency is now the mighty dollar proclaiming “In God We Trust.”
Conclusion
While we in the Caribbean want to keep our heads low and live in peace with our big northern neighbor, very often trouble comes from outside without any warning. Many analysts have identified the main reason for Trump’s focus on grabbing the Panama Canal from the Panamanians is to shut off access to the Chinese who are about to replace the US as the dominant exporter to Latin America and the Caribbean. As the table below, compiled from World Bank data by World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), in 2022 the Chinese were a mere 11 percentage points away from taking top spot from America as the main exporter to the region. Total imports by the region was estimated at about $1.4 trillion.
Should the Chinese exports to the region dry up, American producers will have a major grip on regional markets despite their inability to produce manufactured goods at a competitive price compared to the Chinese. From textiles to electronics the already stressed consumers in the region will be expected to pay more for less. They need look no further than Europe to observe how the Americans benefited from the blow-up of the North Stream pipeline which, for decades, supplied cheap inexpensive gas to many countries on the continent. Now they are paying three or four times higher for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from America. The end result is energy intensive industries are shutting down and many ordinary folk are at risk of freezing this winter because they can’t afford their energy bills.
Donald Trump may regard the Caribbean, especially Haiti, as “shithole” countries but apparently he plans to maintain hegemony over the region to regain dominance over our imports and exports market so as to make America Great Again.
The natives ignore the coming onslaught at their peril.