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Caribbean-Latin America
Trump ‘Revisits’ US Position on the Falkland Islands
2026-09-10
[Newsweek] Trump Falklands Swipe Tests ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Versus ‘Special Relationship’

Donald Trump’s remarks concerning the British and Argentinian claims to the Falkland Islands have created friction with the United Kingdom and put wind in the sails of his ally Javier Milei—while also hinting at the president’s calculus when it comes to the United States’ regional and global interests.

The Falklands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean, whose citizens are seen almost universally as British both within and outside of their borders.

But Argentina, which refers to them as Islas Malvinas, claims sovereignty over the islands—a long-running area of diplomatic dispute which erupted into war in 1982. After Argentina invaded the islands, the resulting 74-day conflict led to the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, as well as three islanders.

And into this ever-tense arena entered Trump this week, when a reporter asked the president about the U.S. position on the islands—still officially one of neutrality—during an event at the White House.

“I always review positions,” the president responded. “And that’s one of them.”

THE DONROE DOCTRINE...
Trump followed up Monday’s remarks with the suggestion, made during an interview with the British channel GB News, that the U.S. would not back the U.K. if Argentina again tried to stake its claim to the islands by force.

After responding to a question on coming “to the aid of the U.K.” by stating that the islands are “a long way away” from Britain itself, Trump turned to the Iran war and told the interviewer: "Your country was not there to help me. We didn't need help, but I did ask NATO, and I asked your former leader, 'why didn't you send a couple of ships?'"

The remarks have been seized upon by Argentina’s president—a firm proponent of his country’s claim to the islands. In a televised address to the nation on Friday, translated by Sky News, Milei said that he would sanction oil companies working in the region, that Argentina would “need to recover” the Falklands, and that the issue was “above any political difference” in the country.

A day after Trump’s GB News interview aired, Milei told his country that the “winds of change” were blowing in Argentina’s favor when it came to the Malvinas.
And Trump’s apparent decision to side with a regional allied power over a stalwart historical ally appears to align with the geopolitical worldview that has come to define his second term in office: The Donroe Doctrine. A play on the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, the label has come to describe America’s recent more assertive approach to the Western Hemisphere.

...OR THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
But the remarks and any support this gives for the Donroe interpretation of Trump’s geopolitics also seem to represent a further departure from the longstanding “special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K.
The UK departed from any special relationship with The Donald when they got involved with the Steele Dossier in 2015, and it went downhill from there. The current government, with or without Sir Keir Starmer, is the worst of the lot.
As well as the military foray into Venezuela and the ousting of its president—now apparently giving way to a comprehensive energy exploitation plan which appears set to heavily benefit the U.S. market—the U.S. has also increasingly put limiting Russian and Chinese influence within North and South America as one of its top strategic priorities.
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