Trump teases US expansion into Panama, Greenland and Canada

CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump appears to be entertaining a U.S. territorial expansion that, if he’s serious about it, would rival the Louisiana Purchase or the deal that gave Alaska from Russia.

In the past week, he has taunted Canadian officials by suggesting the United States could absorb its northern neighbor and make it the 51st state. He threatened to take over the Panama Canal, the American-made waterway controlled for a quarter of a century by its Central American namesake. And on Sunday, he resurrected his initial desire to get Greenland, a Danish territory he has long seen.

With Trump, the distinctions between serious policy proposals and rhetorical flourishes aimed at generating media attention or energy for his base are not always clear. At other times, his provocations have proved to be the opening salvos in his attempts to strike deals.

When Trump expressed his threat to take back the Panama Canal over the weekend, he did so with a challenge for the country to avoid his wrath: lower fees on US ships that use the passage to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

“So to the officials in Panama, please be guided accordingly,” he warned Sunday during remarks to conservative activists in Arizona.

Yet the proposals are strikingly similar in their focus on expanding America’s footprint abroad. And for someone who argued during the campaign for the US to withdraw from foreign intervention, the ideas carry modern echoes of the 19th-century doctrine of Manifest Destiny – a belief in America’s divine right to expand across the continent.

On Sunday night, Trump called ownership of Greenland an “absolute necessity” for “purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world.” His plan to capture the Panama Canal — which he described as a “vital national asset” even though it’s been decades since the United States controlled it — reflected a similar nationalist agenda that Trump often describes as “America First.”

In a speech in Arizona over the weekend, Trump also reiterated plans to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a distinction that could preempt the use of military force on Mexican soil. Trump has threatened to bomb fentanyl labs and send in special forces to take out cartel leaders, a move that could violate Mexico’s sovereignty and disrupt relations with America’s biggest trading partner.

Trump’s transition team declined to clarify whether these latest statements reflect genuine ambition or other motivations, instead pointing CNN back to his recent comments and social media posts.

Several people close to and within Trump’s transition could not pinpoint the origin of his sudden interest in the ongoing activities at the Panama Canal, an issue he did not raise on the campaign trail. However, one adviser noted that Trump regularly elevates causes brought to his attention by people ranging from longtime friends to new acquaintances if it animates him. Since winning the election last month, Trump has spent most days entertaining close allies, business titans, donors and heads of state at his Palm Beach estate.

Another adviser said concerns about the treatment of American companies in Panama likely resonated with Trump because “trade is top of mind for him.” Pressuring Panama to lower fees on ships using the canal could also help offset an expected increase in the cost of products as a result of the tariffs Trump intends to impose on foreign goods.

“I always take him seriously, even though they might sound a little out there,” Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez said of Trump’s comments on Fox Business on Monday. “It is a legitimate threat to Panama.”

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino issued a lengthy statement in Spanish and English on social media, declaring ownership of the port “non-negotiable.” The canal was built at the turn of the 20th century and was operated by the United States until 1999, when it was fully handed over to Panama under a treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter two decades before that guaranteed US use of the canal in perpetuity.

“I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent territory belongs to Panama and will continue to do so,” Mulino wrote.

However, the response did little to deter Trump and his allies, who responded with memes and images on social media doubling down on his latest case.

“Welcome to America’s Channel,” Trump wrote on Truth Social along with a photo of an American flag sailing on the waterway.

Mulino, speaking with CNN en Espanol contributor Andres Oppenheimer for an interview that will air this Sunday, mocked Trump’s criticism that Panama is unable to secure the canal’s operation. “It is an expression of gross ignorance of history. The canal will celebrate 25 years in Panamanian hands, under Panamanian administration, on December 31,” he said, highlighting work, including an expansion project, that Panama has accomplished since the U.S. turned it over. as he said, “leaves multimillion dollar. surplus to our national economy.”

Trump’s proposal to buy Greenland from Denmark, which he only made in his first term, was also rejected.

The Prime Minister of the self-governing Danish territory, Mute Egede, said in a Facebook post on Monday: “Greenland is ours” and “we are not for sale and will never be for sale.”

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s office – which called Trump’s initial proposal that Greenland could be bought “absurd” – echoed Egede.

“The government looks forward to working with the new (Trump) administration. In a complex security political situation, such as the one we are experiencing at the moment, transatlantic cooperation is essential, it was said in a statement on Monday. “As far as statements about Greenland are concerned, the Prime Minister’s Ministry has no other comments other than reference to what the Prime Minister of Greenland has stated that Greenland is not for sale, but open for cooperation,” the statement reads.

Trump first discussed the idea privately and confirmed it publicly in 2019, though he ultimately played down his interest.

“Strategically, it is interesting and we would be interested, but we will talk to them a little bit,” he said at the time. “It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.”

He resumed the idea Sunday in a press release announcing PayPay co-founder Ken Howery as his choice to serve as ambassador to Denmark.

Trump’s proposal to annex Canada seems far less serious and more of a public dig at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the two recently dined at Mar-a-Lago. However, the president-elect has continued to tease the idea on social media.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he wrote in a recent post.

The episode stems from another Trump provocation, this one to implement 25% tariffs on goods originating from Canada and Mexico, illustrative of his approach to negotiating with foreign leaders.

In many ways, the gambit delivered the intended result: leaders from both countries immediately sought an audience with Trump to reaffirm their commitment to helping the US on border issues. And it gave Trump an early opportunity to claim victory over a foreign target.

“President Trump is securing the border,” his transition team wrote in a recent release, “And he hasn’t even taken office yet.”