Donald Trump is a privileged, narcissistic and unpredictable misogynist who wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit him on the nose. But it would be a mistake to assume that the policies of his administration are entirely down to his whims and foibles, even if that is the impression he usually gives.
His administration, carefully shepherded by right-wing Republicans around him, is following through with the foreign policy elements of a project initiated in 2023 by the Heritage Foundation. This project aims to consoldate the power and influence of the Republican right wing. It is a blueprint for a reactionary domestic agenda and scheme to increase the power of the USA internationally. This document, Project 2025, is the theoretical basis of “America First, Last and Always”.
The bombing of Caracas, the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the threat to take over Greenland, and the threats against Iran have all to be seen in that context.
Trump is displaying, depending on which Financial Times journalist one reads, “neo-imperialism”, “retro-imperialism” or “resource imperialism”. But it would be far more accurate to describe US foreign policy as plain-old “imperialism”, now naked and unadorned, without the mask of ‘democracy’. Donald Trump has bluntly made it clear that the western hemisphere “is ours”.
In his 1916 book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin described how the world capitalist system was already dominated by a handful of countries which had divided the world up between them. They plundered the resources of the colonial world for raw materials, obliterated local industries and proceeded to invest to exploit cheap labour.
In the post Second World War era, the collective exploitation of the under-developed world by the main countries of capitalism, was disguised by the pretence that it was all based on a “rules-based” order, resting on “international law”, mutual trade agreements and the United Nations.
There have been innumerable examples of the complete falsity of these claims – we need only mention the many times that Israel has ignored United Nations resolutions on its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza – but politicians, even many on the left, still appeal meekly for adherence to “international law”. But as the USA has amply demonstrated, the only real ‘rule’ in international relations is the one that says “he who has the greatest power makes the rules.”
In the press conference after the kidnapping of Maduro, there was little reference to regime change in the interests of the Venezuelan people. Maduro was replaced by a vice-president who the supposed ‘narco-terrorist’ had put in office. Rodriguez is tolerated as the new Venezuelan president, not because she is a guarantor of democracy – she isn’t – but because she is expected to follow the dictates of the USA, under the threat of further military intervention.
Having already sequestered three oil tankers that had been plying trade between Venezuela and international ports, Trump declared that tens of millions of barrels of crude oil will be sent directly to refineries in the USA, and he has sent a flotilla of US tankers to sail to Venezuela to do just that.
Even American academics can see this for what it is. “This is confiscatory, imperialistic and there is no justification for it,” a professor at Yale’s business school, who has previously advised US administrations on sanctions policy, told the Financial Times, “There is also no need for this oil as we have a global oil glut.” (Financial Times, January 7)
The bombing of Caracas was nothing to do with Maduro’s ‘illegitimacy’ or illegal drugs. It was about resources, plain and simple. When Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were introduced last April, the response of China – to ban the export of essential rare earth metals – came as a jolt to the US administration.
It was a shock that the administration is trying to get over by aiming to directly control key resources, including oil. Adding Venezuelan oil reserves to those in nearby Guyana – also dominated by US companies – means that the USA now controls about 30 per cent of world oil deposits. And the US Energy Secretary made it clear how long the plunder of Venezuelan oil will go on. “The US says it will seek to control Venezuelan oil sales ‘indefinitely’, funnel the proceeds to American companies and open the country to US oil services groups…” (Financial Times)
We might add that we will not only see a massive theft of physical minerals and resources. The Financial Times also reports that hedge funds are seeking to track down unpaid Venezuelan debts and lost funds. The country defaulted on its international debt in 2017 and there are billions of dollars in claims outstanding, since the nationalisation of the Venezuelan oil industry by Chavez government.
Dozens of claims from oil corporations, energy services companies, gold miners and others, which have up to now been gathering dust, are on the table. There is no doubt that Trump will facilitate the US claimants’ recovery of ‘their’ money – and that can only mean a monstrous additional burden put onto the shoulders of the Venezuelan people.
After Venezuela, there is Greenland, an island that Trump has said the USA “has to have”. A take-over, against the opposition of Denmark and the population of Greenland, would have been unthinkable even months ago, but after Venezuela, nothing can now be ruled out. Greenland is extremely valuable, not so much for its strategic position, but for its vast untapped mineral resources.
Trump, with his implementation of a stark and bare-faced “Americal First” policy, has opened a Pandora’s box and it is impossible to anticipate what political earthquakes and upheavals he may have released. But the results may not all be to his liking.
The USA is a military colossus, and the evidence is there for all to see. But Trump’s policies will inevitably stir up increased opposition at home, as ICE runs amok in working class communities, and living standards continue to be squeezed. Not least, there is the problem of the weakening of the US economy, increasing unemployment and uncertainty for workers.
On the world arena, the USA will continue to see its trade and its influence decline relative to China, which is, and will remain, the main trading partner of Latin America. Trump might find in the longer run that this mighty military machine is a colossus built on chicken’s legs.
