WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
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.
China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, though the purchases only account for a small fraction of Beijing’s overall seaborne imports.
Trump has also threatened to seize control of the Panama Canal, saying the waterway was “vital to our country” and falsely claiming, “it’s being operated by China.”
The Panama Canal — a crucial trade passage that links the Atlantic and Pacific – was built by the U.S. in the early 20th century. It was then operated by the U.S. for decades before Washington handed full control of the canal to Panama in 1999. Panama’s high court recently annulled Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s contract to operate two ports on the canal.
Trump thrust Panama into the spotlight even before winning a second term in the White House, suggesting the U.S. consider retaking control of the canal and accusing Panama of ceding influence to China.
The Trump administration this week also expressed concern over China’s control over critical infrastructure in Peru after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator’s oversight of Chinese-built deepwater port Chancay.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on social media on Wednesday that it was concerned that “Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”
The department said: “We support Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure in its own territory. Let this be a cautionary tale for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty.”
