President Taft's 'dollar diplomacy' was a program designed to encouraged U.S. investments in South and Central America, the Caribbean and the Far East. The investments were a way to ensure and create stability in that particular region. Taft used government officials to promote the sale of American products oversees, particularly heavy goods and military hardware.
This program turned out to be largely unsuccessful. In Nicaragua, for example, the Taft administration supported the overthrow of one political leader and it guaranteed loans to the Nicaraguan government. But it was met with resentment from the Nicaraguan people which led to a military intervention. Similar situations happened in other countries such as Mexico, Honduras and Dominican Republic, where this program failed to counteract economic instability and led to revolutions.
It was similar in China, where trade with the United States actually diminished.