President Donald Trump has invited Latin American leaders to take part in a summit in Florida next month, gathering the officials at a moment when the administration is spotlighting what it sees as concerning Chinese influence in the region.
President Donald Trump has invited Latin American leaders to take part in a summit in Florida next month, gathering the officials at a moment when the administration is spotlighting what it sees as concerning Chinese influence in the region.
Plans for the March 7 summit were confirmed on Thursday by a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the yet-to-be formally announced gathering of leaders. It will also come just weeks before Trump is expected to travel to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Trump administration has made it a priority to assert dominance over the Western Hemisphere, where China has long built influence through massive loans and expansive trade.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week convened a gathering in Washington of defense chiefs and senior military officials from 34 Western Hemisphere countries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an address to the officials, said the Trump administration aimed to “achieve a permanent peace in this hemisphere.”
The U.S. administration last month launched an audacious military operation to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and whisk him and his wife to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
Trump has since rationalized the ouster and his subsequent push for the U.S. to maintain oversight of Venezuela’s oil industry by pointing to concerns about Chinese and Russian influence on the South American country.
“One thing I think everyone has to know is that if we didn’t do this, China or Russia would have done it,” Trump told oil industry officials at a White House meeting just days after Maduro’s capture. (AP)
