The Donroe Doctrine, alternatively styled as the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, is an interpretation of principles of President Donald Trump's foreign policy in the Americas. An adaptation of the historical Monroe Doctrine, it describes a perceived desire by the second Trump administration to assert American predominance in the Western Hemisphere.
Trump's efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, acquire Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland, as well as pursuing military action against Venezuela have all been cited as part of a Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Additionally, Trump's "America First" agenda and skepticism of multilateralism has contributed to a view that the U.S. is focusing on its own hemisphere at the expense of traditional alliances, such as NATO.
Following the 2026 U.S. strikes in Venezuela and capture of its president Nicolás Maduro, Trump himself referred to "the Donroe Doctrine", stating that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again".
While supporters see the doctrine as restoring American primacy and combating the influence of China and Russia in the continent, critics have suggested that it could set a precedent for illiberal regimes to violate the rule of law and pursue territorial expansion.
Background Monroe Doctrine
The original 19th-century Monroe Doctrine was outlined in James Monroe's December 1823 State of the Union Address. It opposed European intervention in the Americas and warned foreign powers that the United States would not tolerate colonization of its neighbors.At the turn of the 19th century, the Monroe Doctrine was a tried and tested foreign policy. Theodore Roosevelt's military expeditions in Latin America (Santo Domingo and Nicaragua) arguably extended the principle of the Monroe Doctrine to justifying intervention to prevent foreign powers from gaining influence in a U.S. zone of influence.
First Trump administration
The first Trump administration challenged the human rights record of the Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan regimes. In 2017, Trump stated that he was considering using military force in Venezuela during a period of civil unrest. In 2018, Trump signed the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018, which imposed restrictions and sanctions on those responsible for civil rights infringements. Also in 2018, Trump stated that the U.S. was committed to "maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers" in the Americas.
In August 2019, Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland from Denmark. In reaction, Greenland's foreign ministry declared that the territory was not for sale. Citing Denmark's reluctance to discuss any purchase, Trump canceled a scheduled September trip to Copenhagen days later. The Trump administration declared rare-earth minerals to be vital to national security. With Chinese companies investing in mining of Greenland's abundant resources, the U.S. signed in 2019 an agreement to fund an aerial survey of mineral resources in Garðar.
In July 2020, Trump signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), replacing NAFTA. The second Trump administration was accused of breaching the USMCA when the 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico began in February 2025, with 25% import tariffs introduced by the U.S. to counter the "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs".
Origin
On January 8, 2025, the tabloid New York Post published a front cover with the title "The Donroe Doctrine: Trump's vision for hemisphere". It has been suggested that this was the origin of the portmanteau of Donald Trump and the Monroe Doctrine. The paper's front page showed an image of Trump pointing to a map in which Canada is crossed out and renamed "51st state", Greenland is labeled "our land", and the Panama Canal is labeled "Pana-MAGA". The term did not immediately gain traction following publication of the Post cover but began to circulate more widely in the fall of 2025 with headlines in the Financial Times, The New York Times and other outlets. It was also cited on the Fox News and Fox & Friends several times. The doctrine has alternatively styled as the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Trump would go on to use the term himself following the raid in Venezuela in January 2026, saying "they now call it the 'Donroe Doctrine'", in what was viewed as an admission that he himself did not invent the term.
Trump has a complex relationship with the New York Post. His love has been described as "well known", and he has previously acted as a source for stories, a consumer of the publication, and appeared in the Page Six gossip column under his own name and as fake public relations agent John Baron. On January 7, 2026, the cover was shared by the House Foreign Affairs Committee social media account on X with a caption reading, "Our country was built by warriors and explorers. We tamed the West, won two World Wars, and were the first to plant our flag on the moon. President Trump has the biggest dreams for America and it's un-American to be afraid of big dreams" before later deleting the post. A digitally modified version of the same cover was later re-uploaded. The cover said "The Trump Doctrine" and the post explained "President Trump's America First vision is worthy of being called by its own doctrine."
Second Trump administration
Since his second inauguration, Trump's efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico, acquire Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland, and pursue military action against Venezuela have all been cited as part of the doctrine which seeks to establish U.S. dominance in the Americas, while countering the influence of other major powers. The administration's national security strategy, released in November 2025, explicitly references the Monroe Doctrine and asserts a "Trump Corollary" to the doctrine. It stated the intention of the Trump administration to "reassert and enforce the Monroe doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere". Maduro's capture and Trump's remarks are seen as a warning sign of how the United States may behave across multiple theatres.
Trump's decision to use naval forces in the Caribbean targeting alleged drug boats has also been labeled as an example of both the Donroe Doctrine and a revival of gunboat diplomacy which avoids large-scale action. It was described by John D. Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador to Panama, as a "very parochial New York view" of foreign relations and likened it to mob bosses battling for control of turf in New York. While the original Monroe Doctrine sought to exclude European interference in the Americas, the Donroe Doctrine has been described as a similar attempt to exclude Chinese and Russian influence in the region. Trump has expressed interest in creating an American security sphere aimed at regional security and countering foreign interference.Roland Chr. Hoffmann-Plesch; Anna-Maria Hoffmann-Plesch (2025/26): USA zwischen Eurasischer Großraumrevolution und Multipolarer Weltordnung. Zur völkerrechtlichen Großraumordnung mit Interventionsverbot für raumfremde Mächte als Grundlage eines neuen Nomos der Erde. CRISIS. Journal für christliche Kultur. 14 [Main Theme: Vereinigte Staaten – geteilte Geister]: 36-46, (in German). ISBN 978-3-96321-228-4. In 2026 he announced the creation of the Shield of the Americas, a regional military organization that the majority of Latin American nations have signed onto.
Implementation The Donroe Doctrine has been used to described different instances in the second presidency of Donald Trump. "Donroe Doctrine" State Actions (2025–2026)Target JurisdictionDeclared Core Strategic ThreatU.S. Executive & Military ActionsPresent Geopolitical OutcomeWikisource ReferenceVenezuelaState-level hostility, Russian/Chinese sovereign access to energy reserves, and alleged narco-trafficking.Executed a Caribbean energy blockade in late 2025, culminating in Operation Absolute Resolve (January 3, 2026)—a targeted military incursion resulting in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.Maduro extradited to New York on federal trafficking indictments; establishment of a transitional administration under Delcy Rodríguez and negotiation of a major bilateral energy concession.Executive Order 14245CubaIdeological subversion and hosting of hostile extra-hemispheric signals intelligence infrastructure.Enacted an unyielding maritime fuel blockade alongside re-designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.Near-total collapse of national energy infrastructure and acute domestic economic contraction.Executive Order 14404PanamaExtra-hemispheric commercial infrastructure footprints flanking the Panama Canal corridor.High-level diplomatic ultimatums regarding third-party state concession operations within critical transit logistics.Abrogation of deepwater port access concessions to foreign state-linked entities; formal detachment from global infrastructure pacts.None available (Diplomatic briefs)MexicoTransnational criminal organization autonomy, fentanyl transit pipelines, and unregulated migratory flows.Unilateral executive declaration designating major cartel networks as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), backed by targeted drone strikes and cross-border security deployment mandates.Formation of the "Shield of the Americas" operational security pact to enforce synchronized anti-cartel interdiction regimes.Executive Order 14157ColombiaIdeological misalignment under President Gustavo Petro and structural resurgence of domestic illicit production.Strategic redirection of regional military assistance assets and explicit economic warnings concerning counter-narcotics compliance.Unraveling of historical security coordination protocols; Bogotá initiated a strategic economic pivot toward the BRICS network.None available (Security pivot)ArgentinaSovereign debt exposure creating vulnerability to adversarial financial dependency models.Proactive financial stabilization intervention, leveraging U.S. Treasury mechanisms to extend a $20 billion economic line of credit to the administration of President Javier Milei.Solidification of Buenos Aires as a key regional partner, though balancing ongoing local currency requirements with extra-hemispheric markets remains an ongoing issue.None available (Treasury credit)Greenland / ArcticAccess to strategic rare-earth deposits and regional vulnerability along the High North transit corridor.Reactivation of high-level diplomatic and sovereignty purchase proposals directed toward the Kingdom of Denmark.Met with explicit structural resistance from European partners; integrated into the broader statutory defense architecture for total Western Hemisphere preeminence. Security deal reached giving the US exclusive security and natural resource access. Monroe Doctrine (1823) 22 September 2026 Agreement
South America
On January 3, 2026, U.S. military and federal law enforcement apprehended the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, in a mission codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve. Following Maduro's arrest, the official State Department X account wrote, "This is OUR Hemisphere and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened". In a press conference later that day, Trump referred to "the Donroe document", stating that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again".
Trump has repeatedly praised Argentine president Javier Milei, who was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after he won the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Milei came out in support of the U.S.' capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026. The Trump administration's support for the Argentinian government, including a $20 billion financial assistance package, particularly during the 2025 Argentine legislative election, has been cited as an example of the Donroe Doctrine in effect.