Fortress America

Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration’s posturing toward its neighbors has been increasingly bipolar and unprecedented. Headlines for almost a year now have invariably spun weekly tales of American transgressions and their subsequent fallout. American spying operations were discovered in Greenland; a tanker was seized by the US military off the coast of Venezuela; threats by Trump promised a potential Canadian annexation, and maybe Panama too; and even Mexico, which was seemingly playing the nicest with Trump, still found itself being potentially dragged into a new war against the cartels. These separate incidents, all of which challenge decade-long norms, let alone numerous cases of international law, are indeed collectively terrifying.

The most powerful country in the world, which for decades has led our global political order, now finds itself eschewing any kind of belief in international law or diplomatic settlement. Increasingly, it is engaging in styles of behavior that are both overtly hegemonic and bellicose. No territory, group, resource, or action is off limits. Tankers can be stolen; people can be bombed with no evidence; elections can be overtly meddled in; and fears of consequences or future blowback simply do not exist. It is a policy playbook defined, not by adherence to law or ordered disagreement, but by naked transnationalism exerted through the barrel of a gun.

Taken altogether, these various threats and acts of extortion are helping to define a new chapter in America’s now eighty-year rendezvous with hegemony. New conditions and norms are being set, and cooperation with American power is being shown to be nothing but a momentary pause from the emerging chaos. While unquestionably being driven by short-term grabs for political and financial gain, individuals within the Trump administration have additionally begun to chart a longer path forward, one that acknowledges their country’s formerly unmatched global status and its growing foreign fatigue.

Rather than calling for a re-empowerment of America’s global position, or for some new kind of international order tied to American-led multilateralism, many Trumpian figures have instead reached the rather realist conclusion that their country’s time in the limelight is over. The world is increasingly insecure, and as conditions become more competitive and existential, the only rational solution now is to seemingly gobble up our neighbors, build defenses, and attempt to hold out as the world around us burns.

This doom and gloom does indeed have a basis in reality. China, as an economic competitor, has profoundly expanded its control over vital sectors and resources. Industrially, the country is now a global leader in manufacturing, mining, technology, and research and development. New electric vehicles, industrial inputs, consumables, and rare earths now flow out of the country daily to the tune of billions, driving up both its export surpluses and global competitiveness. Especially within mining, China has, over the past several decades, spent billions of dollars acquiring the land rights and vital pieces of infrastructure needed to ensure the future of its logistical nodes. Regionally, especially in Southeast Asia, its economic domination is now paramount and unequivocal.

Beyond Asia, South America has also become a hotbed for Chinese investments. Just look at the multi-billion dollar Chancay Port in Peru, or at the massive growth in Chinese ownership of mines, energy, agriculture, and other pieces of infrastructure in the region. Within Africa, China again has excelled at acquiring and investing in a slew of vital resources and inputs that are needed to power the economy of the 21st century. New mines, dams, grids, roads, and bridges now line wide swaths of the Global South, helping to increase infrastructural connectivity and the speed of trade. Further, many regional governments and businesses now heavily rely on Chinese investment for both development and patronage. Economically, China has become a significant and direct partner in development; politically, it is the entity that, beyond just growth, delivers personal enrichment and patronage projects.

China’s geopolitics is clear: invest, develop, and influence. Within vital industries, whether it’s AI, green energy, electric vehicles, heavy chemicals, or even the most granular of industrial products, the country is now excelling and exceedingly dominating. Europe and Asia are being flooded with new technologies and goods; installations meant to increase energy capacity and efficiency are now growing precipitously and in tandem with a domestic energy policy that is gradually phasing out coal and fossil fuels writ large; and while definitely not perfect or without serious flaws, China has indeed already shown its adeptness at converting regional climate adaptation into direct economic influence.

America’s geopolitical strategy, on the other hand, has been far less coherent and consistent. For four years under the Biden administration, America built a strategy predicated on green industrialization and targeted subsidies toward emerging industries. Technology, especially chips and solar panels, was repeatedly highlighted as king, and was thus allocated billions of dollars worth of long-term investment and government support. Moving beyond mere short-termism and rhetoric, under Biden, America for a brief moment truly did attempt to launch a new kind of American policy which would both attempt to compete with China industrially while cooperating with friends abroad on vital sectors.

But this vision was never coherent or politically palatable enough to stick. Subsequent administrations, even if they do attempt to undo years of Trumpian regression, will now find themselves having to work with a country that is suffering from growing instability, mass deregulation, and a foreign policy that is increasingly bellicose. Indeed, since January, the Trump administration’s outlook for how to cope with the growing realities of global politics has become far clearer, and it is a logic that strives for regional security beyond everything else.

One new staple is the growing use of state power to overtly clamor for the rare earths and resources that will be vital for future growth. Why, one might ask, is the Trump administration striving so hard to get access to rare earths in Ukraine and Greenland if they truly don’t believe in climate change and its effects on trade? Partially, it is because rare earths are important to the tech and defense sectors. But even beyond this, the long-term answer is that they fundamentally believe in markets, and international markets are increasingly signalling greater demand for these resources. Belief in climate change or in the science behind these minerals isn’t necessary, only a strong enough belief that the value of these regional resources will be higher in the years to come and deliver expanded power.

Thus, a fundamental goal within American policy globally is to use our political and military power to control resources in the Western hemisphere. It is, in essence, an attempt to create a new Pax Americana, one which is regionally-oriented and heavily focused on areas of American insecurity. Take the Trump administration’s fascination with Greenland, which has recently moved from beyond the realm of shitposting and into actual, real-world reconnaissance. Some reporting has even indicated that the administration is supporting separatist movements within the territory through means of MAGA influencers and local collaborators. Plans and maps are now also being drawn, with Greenland being considered as part of homeland defense. What once was considered trolling is now viewed as a real and possible threat, with Denmark now running what they refer to as “Night Watch” protocols meant to constantly monitor Trump and his actions against the territory. Funny fiction has become a not-so-funny political reality.

This obsession with Greenland is not vibes-based or a silly miscalculation. Instead, many within the administration now view the territory, and its future possibilities, as prime real estate. Trump, after all, is a real estate guy, and currently, Denmark has profitable land, within our neighborhood no less, that will soon begin to melt and reveal an abundance of goodies. New mines, fisheries, and trade routes will, in the coming years, be possible for development as climate change takes its toll on the Arctic, and as these realities come to fruition, many are clamoring for swift action. We must buy, own, and develop the neighborhood promptly, everything else be damned. Adaptation to melting conditions, especially through the private sector, must be prioritized, even if this means harming our relations with Europe.

This hegemon-first strategy also fits quite well with Trump’s ongoing buildup in Venezuela. The country currently rests on the largest discovered oil reserves in the world, and as peak oil’s due date is only pushed further and further back, this helps to justify the administration’s growing interest in Venezuelan regime change. If oil will indeed remain profitable and politically powerful for decades, why not use our country’s air power to engage in scare tactics and possible decapitation strikes? Why not steal and blockade oil tankers? Why not topple a neighbor’s government for our own self-benefit?

And this logic can be applied again and again. Why not intervene in Argentina’s election and promise economic calamity if they don’t vote the way you want them to? Why not threaten direct strikes on Mexican soil? Why not threaten Panama’s sovereignty to get preferential treatment and for them to cancel contracts with Chinese shipping companies? All of these actions, individually, can just seem like Trump being Trump. But when viewed more broadly, a picture does indeed begin to emerge.

Ultimately, the Trump administration now views Venezuela, Greenland, and our entire hemisphere, not through the realm of liberal orders or neoconservative interventionism, but through the pure and simple idea of hegemonic control. It is the profound realization that regional hegemony, in a world without rules or guardrails, is indeed quite useful for resource domination and control, especially when you have the largest military in the world.

The subtleties, hints at liberal internationalism, global reforms, and compromises with allies will all stop here. No longer will America parade around the 20th-century narrative of global order and tranquility being delivered through Americanism, nor will it attempt to be the leader of the so-called free world. As global conditions continue to worsen and as competition over vital resources and regions becomes more fraught, it is quite likely that America’s actions will begin to take on a more Trumpian bent even once the man is gone from office. Once in the hegemonic mindset, especially under conditions of duress, it is hard to escape.

In the end, it will be a vision that ignores climate change, coherent forms of industrial policy, and democratic cooperation in favor of economic gain and power projection. The world will worsen, conditions will break down further, but all the while, our country will attempt to profit and gain politically. It will be an all-out competition with other regions of the world for political and biological longevity. Countries and regions will obviously react, and condemnations will be ubiquitous, but in reality, these reactions will be nothing more than window dressing on an international system that requires US consent to get anything implemented. The Western Hemisphere, much like gang territory, will be increasingly surveilled and requested to pay tribute. Some will pay, others will resist, and ultimately, the region will look far more Trumpian than ever before.