Trump's Foreign Policy Focus: Nations on Alert After Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump's second term is being shaped by his foreign policy ambitions. He's followed through on threats against Venezuela by capturing its president and his wife from their heavily fortified Caracas compound in a dramatic overnight raid.

When describing the operation, Trump dusted off the 1823 Monroe Doctrine and its promise of U.S. supremacy in the western hemisphere - re-branding it the 'Donroe Doctrine'. Here are some of the warnings he's made against other nations in Washington's orbit in recent days.

Greenland

The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland - Pituffik Space Base - but Trump wants the whole island. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, he told journalists, saying the region was covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. The vast Arctic island, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, sits roughly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the northeast of the U.S. It's rich in rare earth minerals, which are crucial for the production of smartphones, electric vehicles, and military hardware. Currently, China's production of rare earths far outweighs that of the U.S.

Greenland also occupies a key strategic location in the North Atlantic, giving access to the increasingly important Arctic circle. As polar ice melts in the coming years, new shipping routes are expected to open up. Greenland's Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen responded to Trump by describing the notion of U.S. control over the island as a fantasy.

Colombia

Just hours after the operation in Venezuela, Trump warned Colombian President Gustavo Petro to watch his ass. Venezuela's neighbor to the west, Colombia is home to substantial oil reserves and is a major producer of gold, silver, emeralds, platinum, and coal. It is also a key hub for the region's drug trade - most notably cocaine.

Since the U.S. began striking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in September - saying, without evidence, they were carrying drugs - Trump has been locked in a spiraling dispute with the country's left-wing president. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Petro in October, saying he was allowing cartels to flourish.

Iran

Iran is currently facing mass anti-government protests, and Trump warned overnight that the authorities there would be hit very hard if more protesters died. We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States, he told reporters on Air Force One.

Mexico

Trump's rise to power in 2016 was defined by his calls to Build the Wall along the southern border with Mexico. On his first day back in office in 2025, he signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He has frequently claimed Mexican authorities aren't doing enough to stop the flow of drugs or illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Cuba

The island nation, just 90 miles (145 km) south of Florida, has been under U.S. sanctions since the early 1960s. It held close relations with Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela, which reportedly supplied roughly 30% of Cuba's oil in exchange for doctors and medics traveling in the other direction. With Maduro gone, Havana could be exposed if oil supply collapses.

Trump suggested that U.S. military intervention there wasn't needed, because Cuba is ready to fall.