First Canada, then the Panama Canal. Today, Donald Trump needs Greenland again.
The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he’s picking fights even before taking office on Jan. 20.
In an announcement Sunday naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that “for reasons of national security and freedom around the world, the United States of America believes that ownership of Greenland is an absolute necessity. »
Trump has plans for Greenland after the president-elect reported over the weekend that the United States could regain the Panama Canal if something is not done to mitigate the emerging transportation prices needed to use the waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
He’s also been suggesting that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”
Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Trump tweaking friendly countries harkens back to an aggressive style he used during his days in business.
“You ask something unreasonable and it’s more likely you can get something less unreasonable,” said Farnsworth, who is also author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”
Greenland, the world’s largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large U.S. military base. It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump’s latest calls for U.S. 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 our years-long fight for freedom.”
Trump canceled a stop in Denmark in 2019 after his bid to buy Greenland was rejected in Copenhagen and ultimately failed.
He also warned Sunday that the United States is being “ripped off” in the Panama Canal.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,” he said.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino responded in a video that “every meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to be,” but Trump responded on his social media site: “We’ll see that!
The president-elect also posted a photo of an American flag planted in the canal zone with the word “Welcome to the American Canal!”
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
The canal is based on reservoirs that were affected by the droughts of 2023, which forced it to especially reduce the number of ship passage strips. With fewer ships, managers are also increasing the fees charged to carriers to reserve slots to use the canal.
The outbreaks of violence in Greenland and Panama followed Trump’s recent statement that “Canadians need Canada to become the 51st state” and the delivery of a symbol of himself superimposed on the top of a mountain he watches over the surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.
Trudeau suggested that Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump’s threats to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods.
“Canada will be part of the United States, but Trump’s comments have more to do with leveraging what he says to get concessions from Canada by throwing Canada off balance, especially given the precarious political environment in Canada,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe claim victory over the industry – concessions, border reinforcement or other things. “
He said the situation is similar with Greenland.
“What Trump needs is a victory,” Farnsworth said. “And even if the American flag doesn’t fly over Greenland, Europeans will be more willing to say yes to anything else because of the pressure. “
–Gary Fields of the Associated Press in Washington contributed to this report.