By Adam Ratzlaff

While the Trump administration has pushed forward radical changes at a dizzying pace during its first month in office, it has clearly shown a renewed interest in US-Latin American foreign policy.

Trump’s nomination of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other foreign policy figures led analysts to point to the Reagan-era axiom “Personnel is Policy,” suggesting that Trump would have a strong focus on issues in the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, Rubio suggested that the new president would take an “Americas First” approach.

During the first few weeks of the Trump administration, we have seen a strong focus on issues related to Latin America and the Caribbean. Trump has threatened the use of force to retake the Panama Canal, fought with Colombia’s president over accepting deportees, engaged with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on deportations and the release of US hostages, and threatened tariffs on various hemispheric partners including Mexico, Canada, and Colombia. Meanwhile, Rubio’s visit to Central America and the Dominican Republic was largely well received.

These actions allow us to see the emergence of four core foreign policy priorities toward Latin America: fighting immigration, weakening drug flows, strengthening US manufacturing, and countering Chinese influence. While the first three are inherently linked to domestic policy goals, they directly impact Trump’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.

Who’s Who in Trump’s Foreign Policy Team

Trump’s foreign policy team brings a depth of experience in Latin America to the forefront. However, in trying to address the growth of Chinese influence in the region and immigration concerns, the Trump administration risks alienating some countries in the region — a challenge further exacerbated by Trump's own rhetoric and unilateral approach to inter-American affairs.

The team will have to balance its members’ collective experience in the region with Trump's approach, and consider shifting economic and geopolitical realities.

Here are five key players expected to advise Trump on Latin American affairs, and why their experience matters.

Marco Rubio | Secretary of State

Former Rival Turned Right-Hand Man

Marco Rubio’s parents fled Cuba before the 1959 rise of Fidel Castro. Born in Miami, Rubio has been active in Florida politics for decades and represented the state as a senator (2011-2025) before joining Trump’s team.

A notable Cuba and China hawk, Rubio served as the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. As a senator, he introduced legislation on US-Latin American affairs and countering Chinese human rights abuses.

While Rubio was one of Trump’s rivals in the 2016 presidential election, reports of his role as a guiding hand on US-Latin American affairs during the first Trump administration abound — evident in Trump’s support for efforts to confront left-wing authoritarians in the so-called “Troika of Tyranny” (Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela).

During the Joe Biden administration, Rubio continued to be an active voice on foreign policy, laying out legislation to enhance supply chains, counter Chinese influence, and reduce insecurity in the region — particularly in Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela.

Rubio has noted that leaders in Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Paraguay, and Peru could be important and willing partners in the pursuit of US interests in the region.

While Rubio has long been a proponent of democracy in Latin America, his recent visit to the region marked a shift in tone that sat more in line with Trump’s transactional approach. While Rubio has been a proponent of the Cuban embargo and efforts to isolate Venezuela’s Maduro, his opening remarks at the State Department highlighted the need to work with those in power regardless of their democratic credentials. While some moves suggest that he remains a vocal opponent of these regimes and is willing to take steps to combat them, his influence to drive a hardline approach may be tempered by others in Trump’s orbit.

Rubio likely will continue encouraging the administration to take on the “Troika of Tyranny” and promote deepened ties with Latin America, despite embracing aspects of Trump’s more transactional approach. Rubio also noted that he was acting director of the US Agency for International Aid (USAID), an agency that Trump and Senior Advisor to the President Elon Musk are shaking up by slashing foreign aid.

Mauricio Claver-Carone | Special Envoy for Latin America

The Foreign Policy Investor

Born in Miami, Claver-Carone is a Cuban-American lawyer, activist, policymaker, and investor. Claver-Carone held various positions during the first Trump administration, including senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs on the National Security Council (2018-2020).

Claver-Carone was a key player in the Trump administration’s efforts to create the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the America Crece Initiative, which sought to leverage the private sector to engage in projects, support regional development and integration, and counter growing Chinese influence.

In 2020, Claver-Carone left the Trump administration when it nominated him to lead the Inter-American Development Bank. In that role, he continued to lean into the America Crece Initiative and pushed against Chinese influence. However, he was removed from the position in September 2022 following an independent investigation into his personal relationship with a senior advisor.

Since his removal from the IDB, Claver-Carone has continued to engage on issues related to inter-American affairs and financing. In January 2024, he became a managing partner with the LARA Fund, a Latin America-focused investment firm. He has highlighted issues including the need to address growing Chinese influence and illegal immigration in Latin America while promoting nearshoring efforts.

Claver-Carone’s efforts to promote nearshoring and reshoring while empowering the private sector are likely to continue in his new role as envoy, a position that can encompass an array of initiatives. He will likely encourage Congress to pass the bipartisan Americas Trade and Investment Act (Americas Act), a bill aimed at providing funding to promote nearshoring and deepen connectivity between the Americas.

Claver-Carone has also shown support for increasing the use of funding mechanisms such as the DFC, and deepening partnerships with multilateral lenders such as the Inter-American Development Bank.

However, his interest in nearshoring may run afoul of some of the Trump administration’s goals to bolster US manufacturing if others in the administration see job creation in Latin America as undermining US reindustrialization.

Alvin Holsey | Commander of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)

An Anchor in South Florida

In addition to Trump’s own picks for his Western Hemisphere team, leadership within another US organization critical to regional affairs recently changed hands — US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).

In November 2024 — just after Trump’s electoral victory — Admiral Alvin Holsey took the reins of SOUTHCOM from General Laura Richardson. Given the Biden administration's lack of a concerted approach toward Latin American interests, SOUTHCOM played an increasingly important role in setting the agenda for US-Latin American affairs under Richardson and her predecessor. SOUTHCOM increasingly focused on the growth of Chinese influence in the region as a primary concern and emphasized the role of partnership.

In his first posture statement to Congress as SOUTHCOM’s new commander, Holsey reiterated the importance of partnership while emphasizing SOUTHCOM’s role at the forefront of strategic competition with China and Russia. Therefore, he may advocate continuity in US-Latin American military relations. Despite Trump breaking with Biden’s policy in many areas, Holsey used his introduction to frame the US rivalry with China as a competition between democracy and authoritarianism — a framing Biden used in identifying the greatest challenges in global affairs.

Holsey also doubled down on the need to promote economic cooperation and emphasized financial tools such as the US Export-Import Bank, the DFC, and the Inter-American Development Bank. On this front, Holsey is likely to find support from Claver-Carone and others in the administration.

While Mexico falls outside the purview of SOUTHCOM, the command likely will play a role in deportation flights and operating the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Given SOUTHCOM’s deep role in the region, Holsey will undoubtedly be a critical actor.

Mike Waltz | National Security Advisor

Countering Chinese Incursion with Monroe 2.0

Prior to becoming Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz served in the House as a representative from Florida (2019-2025) and was the first former Green Beret elected to Congress. He also notably served as defense policy director at the Pentagon during the George W. Bush administration.

As a notable China hawk, Waltz has been vocal in his concerns over growing Chinese influence, including in the Western Hemisphere. In interviews about Trump’s claims of Chinese engagement in the Panama Canal and interest in buying Greenland, Waltz has been quick to refer to this approach as a “Monroe Doctrine 2.0” — a throwback to a historic foreign policy position that those in Latin America frequently associate with US intervention.

Amid growing concern over Chinese influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, we can expect Waltz to advocate a harder line on issues related to China in regional affairs. While he does not have the same depth of experience in Latin American affairs as some of Trump’s other nominations, Waltz’s positions on the region are important to understand given his new role.

Richard Grenell | Envoy for Special Missions

The Global Hot Spot Fixer

Richard Grenell is a longtime Republican foreign policy operative. He served in multiple roles during Trump’s first term, including ambassador to Germany (2018-2020), the special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo (2019-2021), and acting national intelligence director (2020).

While Grenell’s portfolio expands beyond the Western Hemisphere, he has already played a major role in shaping the Trump administration’s approach to the region. Despite Trump’s hard line on Venezuela during his first term and the Biden administration’s recognition of Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, Grenell met with Maduro in Caracas on 31 January 2025. Maduro agreed to start taking Venezuelan deportees and freed six US hostages, highlighting the encounter as proof that the US recognized his government.

This meeting marked a critical shift from the first Trump administration’s approach. It suggests that there may be friction between Grenell’s more pragmatic wing of the Trump foreign policy team and those supporting the more hardline stance against the “Troika of Tyranny” — even if Claver-Carone stated that there is no disconnect between these positions.

While Grenell likely will continue playing a role in hemispheric crises including immigration issues, he will likely have a smaller part in directly developing Trump’s regional foreign policy compared with other members of the administration.

Meet the Ambassadors

Between his election and the end of 2024, Trump announced his intended nominees for 10 ambassadorial posts in the Western Hemisphere on the social media network Truth Social, including to Canada and the Organization of American States.

Trump nominated ambassadors to posts in the Western Hemisphere more quickly than Biden, who had confirmed ambassadors to only 14 Latin American posts and still had several vacancies without nominees a full year into his term.

A ‘Floridification’ of US-Latin American Affairs?

Many of Trump’s senior Latin American advisors have Florida ties. Not only did Rubio and Waltz previously represent the state in Congress, but Claver-Carone also has deep ties to Miami and SOUTHCOM is based in Doral, Florida.

Florida’s ties are equally strong within Trump’s ambassadorial announcements. Several of the 10 names Trump has announced so far are Florida politicians or businessmen, including his nominees to the Organization of American States, Argentina, Colombia, and Panama. While Trump’s foreign policy team remains deeply influenced by South Florida politics, Trump’s shift on Venezuelan policy highlights that not everyone on the president’s foreign policy team supports a hawkish view of Latin America.

Latin America Tops Trump’s Foreign Policy Agenda…For Now

The Trump administration’s renewed focus on Latin America highlights the centrality of the region for US economic and national security. It remains to be seen whether his foreign policy approach will continue to focus on the Americas, or if it could revert inward or toward other global hotspots. At the same time, Trump’s efforts to counter China will reverberate and shape how he engages with leaders across Latin America.

While many of Trump's picks have deep expertise in hemispheric affairs, questions remain about the degree to which any one of these individuals will directly shape his foreign policy. Trump’s picks to assist with defense, foreign affairs, and security in the Western Hemisphere will also play important roles, as well as those working on his immigration agenda. At the same time, the high level of turnover within the first Trump administration suggests that these individuals may also change.

Trump himself will ultimately shape the agenda, but his team’s guidance and expertise — along with geopolitical and domestic political considerations — will sculpt his approach to regional affairs. While global issues may shift the Trump administration’s foreign policy focus, the connections between Latin America, Trump’s domestic agenda, and his foreign policy team indicate that his administration will likely continue its focus on the region.

Adam Ratzlaff is a specialist and consultant in inter-American affairs as well as a member of Diplomatic Courier’s World in 2050 Brain Trust. He has previously worked with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Global Americans, among other groups.

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