dollar diplomacy

/ˌdɑlər dəˌploʊməsi/

Foreign policy that's guided by economics, rather than military force, is sometimes called dollar diplomacy. U.S. President William Howard Taft is most closely associated with dollar diplomacy.

When President Taft announced in 1912 that his administration planned to substitute "dollars for bullets," his critics coined the disparaging term dollar diplomacy. Taft's idea was that the U.S. could avoid military conflict and shore up unstable governments by investing money in foreign countries, a tactic that proved to be unsuccessful in countries including Nicaragua, Mexico, and China. Today, dollar diplomacy is largely viewed as a failure.

Definitions of dollar diplomacy

1. noun

   foreign policy influenced by economic considerations
   type of:

   diplomacy, diplomatic negotiations

   negotiation between nations