Trump team to present strategy for the Western Hemisphere
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien will unveil a “whole-of-government” policy strategy for the Americas during a stop in South Florida on Sunday, ahead of his trip to Colombia and Panama.
According to a White House document reviewed by the Miami Herald, the Western Hemisphere Strategic Framework was created with the input of several agencies and encompasses the “five pillars” of President Donald Trump’s vision for the region: securing the homeland, advancing economic growth, promoting democracy and the rule of law, countering foreign influence and strengthening alliances with like-minded partners.
The strategic framework is part of a broader, classified national security strategy, a senior administration official said. According to the White House, a similar exercise was last carried out
President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, will unroll a new government policy framework for Latin America and the Caribbean during a trip to South Florida.
in 2004, in the last year of President George W.
Bush’s first term, drawing a parallel with President Trump’s situation as he seeks reelection in November.
O’Brien, who leads the National Security Council, will present an overview of the strategy during a speech at an event with Colombian and Venezuelan immigrants in West Palm Beach on Sunday.
“President Trump views the Western Hemisphere as an incredibly important area for the United States that has been neglected for too long,” O’Brien told the Miami Herald. “He believes that the Western Hemisphere is really critical for U.S. national security and economic security.”
Foreign diplomats and critics of the Trump administration have said that its Latin American foreign policy has been too narrowly focused on Venezuela and Cuba. President Trump has only traveled to the region once, to attend a G-20 Summit in Argentina in 2018.
“Donald Trump’s Latin American policy has been driven by bigotry, designed by ideologues, and defined by bullying,” said Mark Feierstein, former director for Western Hemisphere affairs on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.
“It has largely focused on two countries — Cuba and Venezuela — and on its own terms has failed,” he added. “The Cuban and Venezuelan people are worse off than they were 3 1/2 years ago, and no closer to enjoying democratic freedoms.”
But the White House mentioned the more than a dozen meetings with Latin American and Caribbean leaders as an example of Trump’s leadership in the region.
AN ECONOMIC AGENDA
In the interview with the Herald, O’Brien did not address the criticisms but highlighted administration efforts to promote private investment in Latin America, which is going to be an important part of his trip to Colombia and Panama. He is expected to announce a new initiative to kick-start private investment in Colombian rural areas.
“We will continue to negotiate some deals in Colombia. I’m bringing with me on my trip Adam Boehler, the head of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. And he has a big checkbook,” he said, adding that he will be talking to Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo about the “Growth in the Americas” initiative, which focuses on promoting private sector investment in infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The administration will soon launch another initiative to promote the relocation of American companies from Asia to Latin
America, the senior NSC director for the Western Hemisphere, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said in a call with journalists on Thursday.
“You are going to see more companies going back to the Americas, a lot of pharmaceutical, manufacturing companies, because they realize, under the threat of a pandemic and the political uncertainty that is taking place in China right now, they would rather be in the Western Hemisphere,”
O’Brien said.
The adviser mentioned Mexico as an example.
“During the COVID crisis, a lot of our supply chain was in Mexico, and those supplies kept coming during this crisis,” he said. “We were able to call president [Andrés] Lopez Obrador if we had a problem. It really worked out well there while it was not working well with a lot of the overseas factories, especially those in China.”
China’s influence in the region is another concern mentioned in the Strategic Framework. In a call with journalists on Friday, Michael Kozak, acting assistant State secretary for the Western Hemisphere, said the U.S. was advising Latin American and Caribbean nations to be careful with “19-century style” Chinese financial offers that might be attractive at first but could result in the seizing of assets and crippling debt.
‘TAKE A RAILWAY’
“It is not like the Western countries, which is, if there’s a bad debt or a bad loan, it gets worked out, or something is paid off over time. The Chinese come in, and they will take a port or take a railway if a country is in debt to them,” said O’Brien, denouncing more recent attempts by the Chinese government to use foreign aid in exchange for political influence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After initial criticism, the U.S. stepped up the aid destined to help foreign countries battling the virus. The White House said the administration donated more than $137 million to Latin American and Caribbean nations for that purpose, which is still below their needs. O’Brien will be delivering the first 50 of the 250 ventilators that the U.S. government promised Panama.
Also included in the U.S. strategy toward Latin America is Trump’s agenda to ensure immigration is “lawful and safe.” But those policies, including the family separation at the border, the Remain in Mexico program, and several accords with Central American nations to take asylum seekers, have been widely criticized and generated diplomatic friction. Some have been challenged in U.S. courts.
The presidential adviser, however, referred to the asylum cooperation agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as great accomplishments.
“What we can not have is an uncontrolled open border,” he said, adding that those aspiring to come to the U.S. must do it “the right way,” applying through embassies.
But the president’s policies have also imposed hurdles on legal immigrants and asylum seekers. The family reunification program for Cubans has been suspended since 2017, and many Venezuelans fleeing the Nicolás Maduro regime have had their asylum claims denied and have been deported.
“if we could get democracy back to Venezuela, you would not have these flows of asylum seekers,” the presidential adviser said. “It can not just be that if there is a problem in a nation, the answer is to go to the United States. Other great countries in the hemisphere must also be a destination.”