This past week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio jetted off on his first overseas trip: to El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. That this first diplomatic venture was to our own backyard in Latin America is, of course, entirely deliberate—as Rubio put it in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, it signals the beginning of an "Americas First Foreign Policy." America will finally focus primarily on its own hemisphere—not Europe, not Asia, and not anywhere else.

President Trump and Secretary Rubio seem intent on prioritizing the interests of our own hemisphere—and thereby making the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine and 20th-century Roosevelt Corollary great again. As Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) recently explained for Newsweek, writing in the context of Trump's newfound interest in the Panama Canal, "the Monroe Doctrine established that a foreign state's intervention in the political affairs of the Americas was potentially a hostile act against the United States," and under the Roosevelt Corollary, "the United States could directly intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American countries if they did not do enough to prevent European aggression."

If this new reshuffling of foreign policy priorities isn't common sense, then I'm not sure what is. It is the very quintessence of common sense. At a time when the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to make ever-great inroads in our own literal and proverbial backyard, it is imperative that the United States resist incursions from the Chinese here in the Americas before attempting to ward them off elsewhere on the ever-expanding Great Power competition global chessboard.

But if America is to focus on our own hemisphere, it is imperative that we hand off the baton to closely aligned allies in critical regions throughout the world to better patrol their own areas—and, crucially, to do so in a way that will redound to the interests of both our allies and the United States.

This then leads us to the State of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited President Trump just yesterday at the White House. This too was symbolic: Netanyahu's trip is the first official foreign leader visit of the new Trump administration. In 2020, Trump and Netanyahu pulled off the greatest peace deals in a generation or more—the Abraham Accords deals between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. (I predict Saudi Arabia also joins the Accords circle of peace sooner rather than later—Trump and Netanyahu both certainly seem to think so too.)

I have long argued that the Abraham Accords, in this respect, ought to serve as a global foreign policy template for the United States: Bring together allies in various parts of the world to better ward off our mutual threats. (In the case of the Abraham Accords, that mutual threat for both our Middle East allies and the U.S. alike is the menacing Iranian regime.) And the proliferation of Abraham Accords-style peace deals across the world, moreover, will in turn allow the United States to focus more on its own hemisphere, Monroe Doctrine- and Roosevelt Corollary-style.

It all makes sense. It all fits. Frankly, it's genius. Call it the second-term Trump foreign policy doctrine. And it's emerging before our own eyes in real time.

To keep up with all my media hits and other writings, make sure to follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can listen to all episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" at the Newsweek website or on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts—as well as on select radio stations across the country. (In fact, we recently welcomed our newest radio partner, 660 AM The Answer in North Texas!) I also have a second podcast, "America on Trial with Josh Hammer," with The First; you can subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On another important note: Make sure to preorder my debut book, Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West, which will be released March 18 from Diversion Books/Radius Book Group! I poured all my heart into this book, and it would mean the world to me if you would preorder a copy today. Related to that, I am also participating in a Steamboat Institute-sponsored debate at Princeton University next Tuesday, February 11 on the topic of U.S.-Israel relations. You can register to attend the debate in-person here, and the online debate live-stream will be found here.

Our highlighted recent Newsweek op-eds include selections from former Hawaii congresswoman and current DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard, Casey Ryan, Laura Rosen Cohen, Kassie Dulin, and Oscar Biscet.

Have a great rest of your week, everyone. We'll be right back in your inbox next week.