Business as usual? Donald Trump and US hegemony through the lens of dollar diplomacy in Argentina

Abstract

AbstractThe Trump presidency was an unwavering source of controversy and attention for four years; it can now be evaluated for its legacy. This article assesses the Trumpian contribution to US foreign policy, turning to the case study of US policy toward Argentina. Situating it in the wider historical context of traditional US “dollar diplomacy,” it argues that, despite warnings from the US foreign policy elite, Trump has not weakened US hegemony in Latin America, but conversely, has acted as an indicator of its strength. We contextualize Trump's influence on US hegemony by suggesting that the occupant of the White House had less of an effect on transforming the broader contours of US foreign policy than the deep‐rooted structural factors shaping it. By viewing US hegemony as a complex adaptive system, able to absorb changes such as the shift from Obama to Trump, it is possible to reconceptualize the way foreign policy is understood and evaluated in both the Latin American and the global context.