WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland.
The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the United States to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries he is fighting with even before taking office on January 20.
In an announcement on 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 also warned that Canada is the 51st state of the United States and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “governor” of the “Great State of Canada. “
Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., said Trump tweaking friendly countries hearkens 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, author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”
Greenland, the largest island in the world, is located between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by a sheet of ice and is home to a main US military base. He won autonomy for Denmark in 1979, and his head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, has warned that Trump’s new calls for American control would be as meaningless as those of his first term.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we never will be,” he said in a statement. “We will have to not lose our years-long fight for freedom. “
Trump canceled a stopover in Denmark in 2019 after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected in Copenhagen and ultimately failed.
He also suggested Sunday that the U.S. is getting “ripped off” at the Panama Canal.
“If the principles, whether ethical and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of generosity are not respected, then we will call for the Panama Canal to be returned to the United States of America, in its entirety, temporarily and without it,” 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 picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, “Welcome to the United States Canal!”
The United States built the canal in the early 20th century, but ceded it to Panama on December 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Carter.
The canal depends on reservoirs that were affected by the 2023 droughts, which forced it to especially reduce the number of shipping crossing spaces. With fewer vessels, managers have also increased the fees charged to shippers for reservation slots to use the canal.
The outbreaks of violence in Greenland and Panama come after Trump recently declared that “Canadians need Canada to be the 51st state” and proposed a symbol of himself superimposed on top of a mountain that 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 the president-elect’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 extract concessions from Canada by throwing Canada off balance, especially given the precarious political environment in Canada,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe claiming victory over the industry, concessions, border enforcement or other things. “
He said the scenario was similar in Greenland, where Trump ultimately sought concessions from Norway.
“What Trump needs is a victory, and even if the American flag doesn’t fly over Greenland,” Farnsworth said, “Europeans will be more willing to say yes to anything else because of the pressure. “
Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP’s Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.
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