Trump insist on force to acquire Canada, Panama, Greenland

Donald Trump has once again expressed his desire for the US to acquire Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal, emphasizing the possibility of using economic and military force to achieve this goal. According to the president-elect these territories are important to America.

Trump spoke during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday. The president-elect addressed various domestic issues, promising to repeal environmental regulations and pardon supporters involved in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol storming.

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However, his most significant remarks focused on foreign policy. He reiterated his wish for the United States to gain control over the Panama Canal, Danish autonomous territory- Greenland, and Canada.

In one exchange with reporters, Trump was asked if he would rule out the use of military force or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal or Greenland.

“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. He then pivoted to the canal, an arterial trade route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.”
He later added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.”

Both the Prime Ministers of Greenland and Denmark have dismissed the possibility of the vast Arctic island coming under U.S. control. Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders” and that only the local population could determine its future.

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She said “Greenland is not for sale”, but stressed Denmark needed close co-operation with the US, a Nato ally.

Greenland – which has a population of just 57,000 – is the world’s largest island and is a strategically important part of the Arctic region.

It has wide-ranging autonomy, but its economy is largely dependent on subsidies from Copenhagen and it remains part of the kingdom of Denmark.

Greenland is also home to a large American space facility and has some of the largest deposits of rare earth minerals, which are crucial in the manufacture of batteries and high-tech devices.

Trump suggested the island is crucial to military efforts to track Chinese and Russian ships, which he said are “all over the place”.

“I’m talking about protecting the free world,” he told reporters.

Similarly, the Panamanian government has asserted that the Panama Canal will remain under Panamanian ownership, as it has been since the U.S. handed over control in 1999, by a treaty negotiated during the administration of the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

The canal “is vital to our country.  It’s being operated by China, Trump said during the conference.

He previously accused Panama of overcharging US ships to use the waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has rejected Trump’s claims and said there is “absolutely no Chinese interference” in the canal.

Also, during Tuesday’s news conference, he ruled out using military force against Canada, which has traditionally been a close ally — though not “economic force”.

“You get rid of the artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what it looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” Trump said, referring to the US-Canada border.

He also noted that the US spends billions of dollars protecting Canada, and he criticised imports of Canadian cars, lumber and dairy products.

“They should be a state,” he told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly responded to the prospect on social media.

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau.

Trump, meanwhile, renewed his pledge to impose “substantial tariffs” on Mexico and Canada if they do not acquiesce to demands to stem irregular migration and drug trafficking into the US.

He had previously threatened to slap 25-percent tariffs on the two countries, despite warnings from economists that trade wars could mangle heavily interconnected North American industries.

In another reference to changing the regional map, Trump said the Gulf of Mexico should be named the “Gulf of America”. It has a “beautiful ring to it”, he quipped.