President-elect Trump has spent parts of the holiday season vowing to take over the Panama Canal, calling for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark and suggesting Canada could become the 51st state.
It all suggests Trump is focused on somehow expanding the U.S. on his watch, though it’s hard to tell how serious it all is.
Some Republicans think Trump is just trolling, while others see a strategic play related to furthering U.S. national security.
“The Panamanian issue is China. They’re dominating the Western Hemisphere economically and financially and we’ve been standing by watching,” a former Trump campaign official said.
Panama has controlled the canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, for nearly 25 years. Trump, in floating the idea the U.S. could take over the canal, complained of “exorbitant prices” and said the U.S. is “being ripped off.”
China has invested heavily in Panama, including in a number of construction deals, and manages two of Panama’s five main ports.
Trump implied in his complaints that countries like China were getting undue influence over the management of the canal. Panama President José Raúl Mulino pushed back on Trump’s claims, noting rates to transit the canal are not decided “on a whim.”
Talk of buying Greenland can also be seen as a national security play.
The Arctic is a key region as the U.S. looks to counter Russia and China, and it’s becoming more contested as melting ice opens up new shipping routes.
Greenland is also rich in natural resources.
Trump in 2019 said buying Greenland, which self-governs but is owned by Denmark, was “strategically” interesting, triggering an angry response from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the time.
In a Truth Social post announcing his pick for ambassador to Denmark last week, Trump declared that U.S. ownership of the island territory “is an absolute necessity.”
Prime Minister Múte Egede pushed back that Greenland “will never be for sale,” and Denmark announced a new package to boost security of the Arctic Island.
“What is he really saying here? Out loud, he’s talking about reinstituting the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. controlling the Western Hemisphere,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said of Trump’s talk of Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal together.
The Monroe Doctrine, which was announced by former President Monroe in 1823, prevents the U.S. from engaging or intervening in the political affairs of Europe.
Trump’s repeated jabs at Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau being a U.S. governor does look like trolling on one level.
But Republicans watching on think the president-elect is also trying to win an advantage in trade negotiations.
Trump has vowed to impose a 25 percent tariff on products imported from Canada, as well as Mexico, and has accused both countries of inaction or cross-border drug trafficking and crime.
In a Christmas Day post, Trump called Trudeau “governor” and said the taxes in Canada are “far too high,” claiming if Canada became the 51st state, taxes would be cut. He also suggested hockey great Wayne Gretzky should run for prime minister of Canada, saying the job is “soon to be known as the Governor of Canada.”
Plenty of people in Canada have not seen Trump’s online remarks as amusing.
“It’s pretty scary that he doesn’t see issues with making threats like that to America’s closest ally,” said Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at the University of Western Ontario and a visiting professor at McGill University.
Canadian leaders appear to be taking the remarks pretty seriously.
After Trump’s tariff threats, Trudeau flew down to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., to meet with Trump on his home turf last month, Lebo noted, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off energy supplies to the United States if Trump really imposed severe tariffs on Canadian exports.
“We will go to the full extent depending how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin,” Ford said during a press conference following a virtual meeting with Trudeau, per CBS News.
“I don’t want this to happen, but my No. 1 job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole since we’re the largest province,” Ford said.
Lebo said some Canadian leaders aren’t sure what to make of Trump’s remarks or how to respond.
“You don’t know which of the strategies is right for dealing with a bully. Do you be nice and give them something that they want, or do you try and threaten them back?” Lebo said.
A new Leger poll, reported by the Canadian Press, found 13 percent of Canadians were open to the idea of joining the U.S. — but that figure is “about the same range as the percent of Ukrainians who want to be part of Russia,” Lebo noted.
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright shrugged off Trump’s focus on the three regions as “to some degree, a distraction tactic” after chaos on Capitol Hill last week over funding the government before last Friday’s deadline.
“It’s power and control and extremism,” Seawright said. “[It’s] Donald Trump trying to have unchecked power, controlling the narrative and the conversation.”
Trump’s team, for its part, suggested it is global leaders searching Trump out given his growing world power.
“World leaders are flocking to the table because President Trump is already delivering on his promise to Make America Strong Again. When he officially takes office, foreign nations will think twice before ripping off our country, America will be respected again, and the whole world will be safer,” Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Hill in a statement.
Trump’s team also noted that Canada has already committed to securing the border to prevent drugs from coming into the U.S. and said that Trump intends to curb Chinese economic aggression by securing the Panama Canal and Russian aggression by controlling Greenland.
