WEST PALM BEACH, Florida—First Canada, then the Panama Canal. Today, Donald Trump needs Greenland again.
The president-elect is renewing failed 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 a Sunday announcement naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Trump has plans to return to Greenland after the president-elect reported over the weekend that the United States could regain the Panama Canal if something is not done to ease surging mandatory transportation prices for the use of the waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
He also warned that Canada is the 51st state in 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, Virginia, said Trump’s tinkering with friendly countries is reminiscent of the competitive taste he used to have 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 layer of ice and houses a main base of the US army. It won autonomy for Denmark in 1979, and its head of government, Mute Bourup Egede, has warned that Trump’s new calls for U. S. 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 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 ethical and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of donation are respected, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in its entirety, promptly and without a doubt,” he stated. .
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that “every meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will remain so,” but Trump responded on his social media site: “We’ll see about that!”
The president-elect also posted a photo of an American flag planted in the canal zone with the word “Welcome to the U. S. 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 hit by 2023 droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships, administrators also increased the fees that shippers are charged to reserve slots to use the canal.
The Greenland and Panama flareups come after Trump recently posted that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State” and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying 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 claim victory over industrial concessions, strengthening borders or other things. “
He said the situation is similar with Greenland, with Trump ultimately looking for 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. Gary Fields of the Palestinian Authority in Washington contributed to this report.
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