Trump moves to pressure Santiago over China cable project
View of the city of Santiago and the Andes taken from the Metropolitan Park on July 2, 2024.
Rodrigo Arangua | Afp | Getty Images
Chile has become the latest Latin American country to become involved in the US-China power struggle.
The country, which counts Washington as its biggest foreign investor and Beijing as its biggest trading partner, is facing pressure from the White House over an undersea cable project with links to China.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes a surprise move in question Late last week, the Trump administration announced that it would impose visa restrictions on three Chilean officials affiliated with a digital cable project proposed by Chinese companies, claiming security threats.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who will leave office on March 11, condemned He rejected visa sanctions and rejected the idea that the country “encourages any action that threatens our security or the security of the region.”
Chile’s outgoing left-wing government later said one of the sanctioned officials was Juan Carlos Muñoz, the country’s Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, but did not comment on the identities of the other two.
US Ambassador to Chile Brandon Judd, He defended visa restrictions He told reporters on Monday that it was “Washington’s sovereign right to take action when we feel the security of the region is threatened,” according to the Associated Press.
The debate took place just days before a summit of Latin American leaders in Miami, Florida, and two weeks before Chile’s newly formed right-wing government takes office in Santiago.
Chile’s president-elect Jose Antonio Kast speaks to reporters after meeting with the Prime Minister of Italy at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on February 5, 2026.
Filippo Monteforte | Afp | Getty Images
This also represents an important test. José Antonio KastThe administration follows the path of the right-wing candidate election victory late last year.
Analysts say US President Donald Trump is sending a clear message to Latin American countries as he tries to counter China’s strategic influence in the region.
‘A set warning’
According to Mariano Machado, principal analyst at America’s risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, US-Chile tensions were above all a “calibrated warning” to the Kast administration that strategic infrastructure decisions would be treated as geopolitical alignment choices rather than neutral tenders.
Of course digital subsea cables It is the backbone of the world’s internet and telecommunications infrastructure, enabling everything from international phone calls to financial transactions. According to some estimates95% of international traffic passes through these largely invisible data superhighways.
Map of the world’s undersea communication cables.
CNBC | Jason Reginato
“The short-term external consequence is that Kast’s engagements in Washington – most notably the Inter-American Shield summit – have become early tests of how Chile balances its partners under pressure,” Machado said.
“As US-China rivalry intensifies in the region, Chile’s ambitions for a ‘digital hub’ will only become investable if geopolitical concerns are addressed in advance rather than retooling after a crisis.” he continued. “Winning deals will be those that lock in vulnerability management and reliable security assurances early enough to preserve bankability.”
Chinese embassy in Chile reportedly He accused Washington of “blatant disdain for Chile’s sovereignty, dignity and national interests” following the Trump administration’s visa restrictions on Chilean officials.
China’s strategic and economic influence in Latin America is well established; but Trump is thought to be the target of the so-called “Donroe Doctrine,” a combination of Donald Trump and the Monroe Doctrine, referring to the 19th-century foreign policy position asserting Washington’s influence over the Western Hemisphere.
Just in the last few weeks, for example, Panama’s supreme court ruled against Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, saying the franchise held by a subsidiary of the firm to operate ports at both ends of the Panama Canal was unconstitutional. The result was widely seen as a victory for Trump’s regional security ambitions.
The United States has also stepped up pressure on Cuba’s communist rule, threatening to impose tariffs on any country supplying oil to Havana and recently launched an extraordinary military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
