​ China spent years building ties in Latin America. Can Trump make room for the US?. 10 hours ago. Cristobal VasquezWashington, DC. Getty Images. Donald Trump will host Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Saturday at his golf club for the “Shield of the Americas Summit” — an event aimed at rallying allies around US national security interests and countering China’s growing influence in the region.. While the US spent much of the last decade focused elsewhere, China is now the region’s top lender and trading partner, financing major projects like the $3.5bn (£2.6bn) Chancay megaport in Peru and the Bogotá metro in Colombia, among others.. Now, the American government wants to reclaim lost ground. But experts warn that establishing meaningful relationships will take more than military posturing, tariffs, and strong-arming.. Leading the diplomatic effort is Kristi Noem — dismissed by Trump this week as Secretary of Homeland Security — who has been tapped as special envoy for the summit. “In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise,” Noem wrote on X following her firing.. She will be joined by conservative leaders from eight nations — Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Honduras, Guyana, and Ecuador — who share ideological ties with the Trump administration. Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil will be absent.. Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, expects the summit to focus on drug trafficking, migration, counter-terrorism, and curbing Beijing’s hemispheric influence.. “I’m kind of anticipating a Latin American CPAC,” says adds Ellis, referencing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which draws right-leaning politicos from across the US.. The Trump administration has said Saturday’s summit aims to “enlist and expand” US friends in the Western Hemisphere and limit Chinese engagement across the Americas, including moving to prevent rivals from establishing military or strategic footholds in the region. The meeting follows Trump’s recent focus on the Caribbean, and his earlier statements about how the US should “take back” the Panama Canal from China.. His pressure in the region has already led to major changes – from the ousting of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro to Panama’s Supreme Court’s decision, earlier this year, to cancel a Hong Kong-company’s contracts in the canal.. Getty Images. But the American government faces significant challenges, says Enrique Dussel Peters, professor of economics and coordinator of the Center for Chinese-Mexican Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).. “Gone are the days of development partnerships, free trade, multilateralism, and even basic reciprocity,” Dussel said. China’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown “drastically,” he told the BBC, while the US response remains “late and reactive”.. Dussel says policies such as