President Donald Trump launched into a passionate rant Saturday against a “bad interpreter” in front of Latin American leaders during a summit he hosted in Florida.
Leaders from a dozen Western Hemisphere nations gathered at Trump National Doral Miami for the “Shield of the Americas Summit,” an event the White House described as promoting “freedom, security and prosperity” while strengthening counter‑narcotics cooperation.
Trump, meeting with several Latin American and Caribbean leaders to discuss closer collaboration on security, migration, and fighting drug cartels, said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “has a language advantage” over him, adding, “’Cause I’m not learning your damn language. I don’t have time.”
He then went into the importance of a “good interpreter,” claiming he can tell the difference between good and bad ones, even though he does not speak their language.
“I had an interpreter recently that wasn't good,” he told the room. “Talking to a very strong person from a different part of the world - and I could tell, even though I don't speak the language - I could tell the interpreter was not good. When you go, ‘uh, uh,’ when I give a long, flowing, beautiful sentence…”
“In this case, it was a woman, and she gave it in about 1/4 the time I said. Well, their language may be efficient, but it's not that efficient,” Trump said.
Leaders confirmed to be attending the summit include the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, along with Chile’s president‑elect José Antonio Kast, who traveled before officially taking office.
Notably absent from the summit were leaders from some of the region’s largest and traditionally influential countries. Mexico, Brazil and Colombia did not participate in the Miami meeting. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro were not on the guest list.
The Shield of the Americas summit was created after the 10th Summit of the Americas was canceled last year amid a US military buildup near Venezuela, leading Trump to organize a smaller meeting of like-minded conservative leaders.
The gathering is widely seen by analysts as a key element of Trump’s foreign policy in his second presidential term, sometimes described by commentators as a modern iteration of the Monroe Doctrine, referenced by some as the so‑called “Donroe Doctrine,” with an emphasis on reaffirming US influence and leadership across the Americas. The summit included discussions on coordinating security responses to drug cartels and transnational gangs, issues the Trump administration has framed as direct threats to regional stability.
At the summit, Trump pushed the leaders to take stronger action against violent cartels and gangs, even suggesting the use of military force, saying traditional law enforcement isn’t enough to tackle the problem.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump said, the Associated Press reports. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.”
Referring to the US-led coalition that fought the Islamic State in the Middle East, Trump said that ”we must now do the same thing to eradicate the cartels at home.”
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