Editor's note: Zhang Guofeng is an associate professor at the School of Peace and Development, Renmin University of China. Zhao Yuheng is an assistant professor at the School of Peace and Development and a researcher at the Center for Research on Global Energy Strategy, Renmin University of China. This article reflects the authors' views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Since January 2026, a series of actions by the US Trump administration has made its so-called "Donroeism" (Donald Trump's version of the Monroe Doctrine) increasingly explicit—from a US military action on Venezuela, to threats directed at Colombia and Cuba, and even vows to seize Greenland. 

"Donroeism" is a rebranded, Trump-era mutation of the Monroe Doctrine first advanced in 1823 by then US President James Monroe, anchored in the notion that "Americas is for Americans." 

In December 2025, the Trump administration released a new national security strategy that openly declared its intention to treat the Western Hemisphere once again as "America’s America," in the spirit of the Monroe era. 

On January 3, 2026, following Trump's press conference on the Venezuela operation, the term "Donroeism" rapidly gained traction in media. Compared with the original doctrine, "Donroeism" is more expansionist and predatory: in the name of making America "great again," Washington is tightening its grip on the entire Western Hemisphere through economic strangulation and military intervention.

As America's northern neighbor and a long-standing ally, Canada, with its abundant resources and vast territory, has inevitably become a key target in this "Donroeist" agenda. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of "annexing" Canada into the United States. 

For decades, the United States has constructed layers of economic "shackles" through the dollar system, market dominance, and resource control, enabling a comprehensive penetration into Canada's economic decision-making. The naked hegemony of "Donroeism" now poses even more severe challenges to Canada's economic sovereignty and geopolitical security.

After World War II, Canada's economy was gradually embedded into US-led regional industrial chains through frameworks such as the Canada–US Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement. This integration deepened Canada's structural dependence on the US. 

In 2024, Canada's exports to the US accounted for 75.9 percent of its total exports, while imports from the US made up 62.2 percent of its total imports. Bilateral trade reached $761 billion, equivalent to roughly 20 percent of Canada's GDP. US investment represented about half of Canada's total stock of foreign investment, and key sectors such as energy, finance, and technology have long been dominated by American capital. 

Canada's energy sector is effectively under US control. With abundant energy endowments, Canada provided 70.2 percent of the volume of hydrocarbons imported by the US, yet almost all Canada's crude oil and natural gas are sold to the US. More importantly, the extraction, transportation, and pricing power of oil and gas have long been shaped by US capital and rules, the vast majority of Canada's oil exports transit through pipelines in US territory, giving Washington leverage over routes and costs. 

Canada's agricultural dependence on the United States is equally comprehensive. In 2024, the US absorbed 61.9 percent of Canada's agricultural exports, serving as the primary market for key products such as canola, wheat, and pork. Meanwhile, the US supplied 55 percent of Canada's imported agricultural products. Beyond trade, Canada relies heavily on US inputs across the agricultural production chain, including seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery. Cross-border agribusinesses have formed an integrated "production-processing-consumption" network, while Canadian agriculture remains closely aligned with US standards in inspection and quarantine, food safety, and environmental certification, reinforcing institutional lock-in through regulatory synchronization.

Canada's manufacturing sector is bound to the US across the entire value chain. In 2024, 75.9 percent of Canada's manufacturing exports went to the US, and 62.3 percent of its manufacturing imports came from the US. About 42 percent of manufacturing value added depends on US demand, and roughly 688,000 jobs, accounting for 41 percent of total manufacturing employment, are directly linked to trade with the United States. Core industries such as automobiles, steel and aluminum, as well as aerospace, are highly integrated. 

This deep economic integration enables the United States to leverage the dollar's monopoly power and the size of the American market to coerce Canadian concessions, further tightening control over Canada's economic decision-making. Under the intensified hegemony of "Donroeism", this erosion has spilled over from the economic domain into the geopolitical and strategic realm. 

In its new national security strategy, the United States has explicitly positioned Canada as a "northern strategic asset," while drawing red lines to prevent it from deepening economic and strategic ties with major powers outside the Western Hemisphere. Washington has defined the Northwest Passage as an international waterway and dispatched icebreakers to enter it unilaterally, blatantly disregarding Canada's sovereignty claims.

After taking office, Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly declared that he would pursue economic autonomy "at any cost," reflecting Canada's desire to break free from excessive US reliance. But whether Canada has sufficient leverage to confront the US remains uncertain.

At present, the United States appears determined to seize Greenland. If that goal is realized, it would create a strategic encirclement of Canada by the US mainland, Alaska, and Greenland, significantly raising the likelihood that Canada could be reduced to America's "51st state." 

Canada's predicament offers a stark warning to the international community: once a country loses economic autonomy, it faces existential risks under the expansionary logic of hegemonism. Only by building diversified international cooperation networks, strengthening economic security, and upholding the principle of independent sovereignty can a nation truly safeguard its core interests, as well as its right to development and survival.