U.S. foreign policy created by Pres.
William H. Taft to ensure financial stability in a region in exchange for favourable treatment of U.S. commercial interests.The policy grew out of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt 's peaceful intervention in the Dominican Republic, where U.S. loans had been exchanged for the right to choose the head of customs (the country's major revenue source). Taft's secretary of state, Philander Knox carried out Dollar Diplomacy in Central America (1909) and China (1910). Pres. Woodrow Wilson repudiated the policy in 1913. The term has become a disparaging reference to the manipulation of foreign affairs for economic ends.