The economic plan the Miami summit needs

With every passing year until the Donald Trump administration, China’s economic footprint in Latin America grew deeper, and Washington did little to counter it.

Beijing’s trade with the region hit a record $518 billion in 2024. It loaned more than $120 billion to governments across the hemisphere, controlled ports from Peru to Panama, and blanketed a dozen nations with Huawei networks. That patient, two-decade strategic incursion is now facing, for the first time, a determined American response.

Trump’s bold leadership and the “Donroe Doctrine” are already changing the trajectory of the hemisphere. His administration captured Nicolás Maduro and is now pressuring Cuba. It launched Project Vault, a $12 billion public-private partnership to build a U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve. It pushed out Chinese interests from the Panama Canal and partnered with Mexico to take down a major cartel leader. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made Central America his first destination, sending an unmistakable signal about this administration’s priorities.

On March 7, when Trump hosts the leaders of El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama and Argentina in Miami, the stage will be set for a new hemispheric partnership.

The economic provisions of the Western Hemisphere Partnership Act include incentives for U.S. companies to nearshore and a pathway for other countries to join the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). That is part of the answer. More is needed. An association of key business leaders in Central America can offer the rest of the solution: the ThinkHUGE model.

The HUGE Business and Investment Council, a coalition of private-sector leaders from Honduras, the United States, Guatemala, and El Salvador, has demonstrated what market-driven partnership can achieve: nearly $8 billion in catalyzed investments and more than 200,000 jobs created since 2021.

The ThinkHUGE model was created by the region’s most successful entrepreneurs, drawing on deep, real-world experience. At the hemispheric level, the model would constitute four pillars that together form a robust framework for an economic growth partnership.

First, trade acceleration through streamlined agreements eliminates remaining barriers and simplifies customs procedures, to be combined with a pro-growth regulatory regime that promotes trade, investment, and job creation.

Second, hemispheric infrastructure through a $100 billion public-private fund to modernize ports, roads, airports, and digital connectivity, with priority given to deploying American 5G technology in place of Chinese systems, together with the development of logistics and manufacturing hubs.

Third, energy and resource security through expanded access to U.S. natural gas and coordinated development of the region’s critical mineral reserves.

Fourth, workforce investment to equip the hemisphere’s young and growing populations for skilled employment in advanced manufacturing and technology.

The countries meeting in Miami share a commitment to economic growth, trade, and investment. Working in partnership with the United States to leverage the ThinkHUGE model, they can tap into the immense potential of nearshoring, attract U.S. partners, draw investment, create jobs, and spur faster growth.

The economics are compelling. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the global shift of supply chains away from China could generate $78 billion in additional annual exports for Latin America. Central America, close to U.S. ports, with competitive labor costs and existing free-trade agreements, is positioned to capture the largest share of that historic nearshoring opportunity. Trade between the United States and the Northern Triangle nations already totaled $45 billion in 2024.

With a successful Miami summit, these eight allied nations will not be the end of the story. They will be the nucleus. Other countries may even participate. As the ThinkHUGE model delivers jobs, infrastructure, security, and growth, other nations will be drawn to the partnership. The original eight can become the foundation of a broader hemispheric movement built on shared values and mutual prosperity.

Beijing has spent two decades expanding its role in this hemisphere. The Miami summit is Washington’s moment to respond with equal clarity and greater force. We believe that ThinkHUGE can offer part of that answer.

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Dr. Juan J. Daboub is the president of ThinkHUGE, former managing director of the World Bank Group, and former Minister of Finance of El Salvador.