America’s first sphere of influence becomes the test of its power at 250

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. Here, Teresa Elena Frontado and Igor Patrick look at how Beijing is testing long-standing US influence in the Western Hemisphere.Asked during the 2024 presidential campaign whether he was concerned about Brazil and Mexico drifting towards China, Donald Trump shrugged.The countries could “do whatever they wanted”, he said, because the United States was “blowing everyone away, including China”.Months later, that dismissive tone gave way to an explicit effort to counter Beijing’s influence.In December, the White House designated the Western Hemisphere an American “Homeland Security Zone”, pledging to deny rival powers control of strategically important assets near US shores. Officials described the strategy as the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, explicitly linking today’s competition with Beijing to a doctrine first articulated more than 200 years ago.Beijing responded within days with its third policy paper on Latin America. Without mentioning the US directly, it rejected “hegemonism and power politics”, opposed “unilateral bullying” and insisted China’s ties with the region were “not subjugated by any third party”.The exchange underscored how the Americas had once again become a central arena in great-power competition.