First Canada, then the Panama Canal. now, Donald Trump Wants Greenland again.
The president-elect is renewing failed calls during his first term to buy America. Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allies he is picking fights with before taking office on January 20.
In naming his ambassador to Denmark on Sunday, Trump wrote that, “For the purposes of national security and liberty around the world, the United States of America feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Trump once again has designs on Greenland after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that if needed to use the waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, If nothing is done to reduce rising shipping costs, the US could regain control of the Panama Canal.
He is also proposing that Canada become the 51st state of the United States and has called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “governor” of the “Great State of Canada”.
Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Trump tweaking friendly countries pointed to the aggressive style he used in his business days.
“You ask for something unreasonable and you're more likely to get something less unreasonable,” said Farnsworth, author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”
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Greenland, the world's largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. 80% of it is covered by ice sheets and is home to a major US military base. It took home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump's latest calls for US control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose the long-standing fight for freedom.”
Trump canceled a 2019 visit to Denmark after Copenhagen rejected an offer to buy Greenland, ultimately to no avail. Stayed.
He also suggested on Sunday that the US was going to “spill over” the Panama Canal.
“If both the moral and legal principles of this monumental act of surrender are not followed, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States in full, quickly and without question,” he said.
Panamanian President José Raúl Molino responded in a video that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue,” but Trump fired back on his social media site, “We'll see about it!”
The president-elect also posted a photo of an American flag planted in the Canal Zone with the caption, “Welcome to America's Canal!”
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to Panama on December 31, 1999 under an agreement signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
The canal depends on reservoirs that were affected by the 2023 drought, which has forced it to drastically reduce the number of daily passages for ships. With fewer ships, organizers also increased the fees they charge shippers to reserve slots to use the canal.
Trump recently followed up with a post that said “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state” with a Canadian flag on top of a hill surveying the surrounding area. Submitted a picture.
Trudeau suggested Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair recently met at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where Trump slapped 25 on all Canadian goods. Threats of imposing a percentage tariff were discussed.
“Canada is not going to be part of the United States, but Trump's comments are about making the most of what he wants Canada to do. “It's off-balance to seek concessions from Canada, especially given the current fragile political climate in Canada,” Farnsworth said. said “Perhaps claim a win on trade concessions, a hard border or other things.”
He said that there is a similar situation with Greenland.
“What Trump wants is a win,” Farnsworth said. “And even if the U.S. flag doesn't fly over Greenland, European pressure might make them more willing to say yes to something else.”
Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.
and copy 2024 Canadian Press