US imperial/hegemonic coercion of smaller sovereign states

This position holds that the United States uses sanctions, tariffs, military threats and regime-change pressure to bend smaller sovereign states to its will, and that its blockades of Cuba and Venezuela punish whole populations and violate their right to self-determination. Its advocates speak of imperial coercion, interference in internal affairs, subordination and the defence of sovereignty.

It appears across disputes over Cuba under pressure, Venezuela after the US intervention, US-Mexico security and trade tensions, US sanctions and blockade instruments, annexation rhetoric and Canadian sovereignty, and Colombia, voiced by between 9 and 57 outlets in each.

It is answered by four positions: that the governments in Caracas and Havana jail critics and wreck their economies so pressure on them is justified, that cartels have captured parts of the Mexican state so US pressure is justified, that US interventions deserve the scrutiny applied to adversaries, and that tariffs are self-defeating. Recent events show Canada imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States, Trump renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America", Mexico's president accusing the US of meddling, and a 25-year US-Venezuela oil deal that Venezuela's interim president says leaves sovereignty over oil intact.