Washington – He President Donald Trump has invited Latin American leaders to participate in a summit in Florida next monthbringing together officials at a time when the government focuses on what it considers a worrying Chinese influence in the region.
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A White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly on the meeting — which has not yet been formally announced — confirmed plans for the March 7 summit on Thursday. It will also take place just a few weeks before a trip that Trump plans to make to Beijing to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Trump administration has made it a priority to reassert its dominance over the Western Hemisphere, where China has been building influence for a long time through massive loans and expanding trade.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, convened a meeting in Washington this week of defense chiefs and senior military officials from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a speech to officials, said the Trump administration sought to “achieve permanent peace in this hemisphere.”
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The United States last month launched a bold military operation to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and transfer him and his wife to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
Trump has since justified the overthrow and his subsequent push for the United States to maintain oversight of Venezuela’s oil industry by pointing to concerns about Chinese and Russian influence in the South American country.
“One thing I think everyone needs to know is that if we hadn’t done this, China or Russia would have done it,” Trump told oil industry officials at a White House meeting just days after Maduro’s capture.
China is the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil, although those purchases represent only a small fraction of Beijing’s total maritime imports.
Trump has also threatened to take control of the Panama Canal, claiming that the waterway was “vital to our country” and falsely claiming that “it is being operated by China.”
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The Panama Canal—a crucial trade passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific—was built by the United States in the early 20th century. It was then operated by the United States for decades before Washington handed full control of the canal to Panama in 1999. Panama’s highest court recently annulled Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison’s contract to operate two ports on the canal.
Trump put Panama in the spotlight even before winning a second term in the White House, suggesting that the United States consider regaining control of the canal and accusing Panama of ceding influence to China.
The Trump administration also raised concerns this week about China’s control over critical infrastructure in Peru after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator’s oversight of the Chinese-built Chancay deepwater port.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on social media Wednesday that it was concerned that “Peru could be left powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”
“We support Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure in its own territory. Let this serve as a warning to the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty,” he added.
* Por Aamer Madhani / AP
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date: 2026-02-12 21:14:00