President Donald Trump has made no secret that making America great again, for him, involves dominating the western hemisphere so as to ensure US national and economic security. As part of the so-called ‘Donroe Doctrine’ he has floated the idea of annexing Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal, and suggested using military force in Colombia and Mexico. But nowhere has the Trump administration come closer to asserting full control over a sovereign nation in the western hemisphere than in Venezuela. More than nine months after the military intervention to seize former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) on drug trafficking charges, Washington is still closely managing the South American nation.

Looking beyond the region itself, expectations that the multilateral climate framework would drive a fossil fuels phaseout have diminished, with the United Nations COP30 climate summit in November 2025 underlining the reasons why.