President-elect Donald Trump’s calls to take control of Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal reflect his fascination with a 21st-century version of an old idea—that great powers should carve out spheres of influence and defend their economic and security interests by imposing their will on smaller neighbors.
In a press conference Tuesday, Trump outlined a second-term foreign policy agenda that rests not on global alliances and free trade but on economic coercion and unilateral military might, even against allies.
With the Panama Canal and Greenland, he suggested he could use force to take them over. With Canada, he suggested he would hit the U.S.’s northern neighbor with extreme tariffs, leaving it no choice but to submit to annexation.
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” Trump said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security.”
Taking control of Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal through military or economic force would be a dramatic departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy as pursued by presidents of both parties. If Trump does even a portion of what he described—each of which is extremely unlikely—it could mean far-reaching changes in America’s global role, emboldening adversaries and forcing allies no longer assured of Washington’s backing to seek new security and economic arrangements, analysts said.
For Trump, the case for a sweeping reorientation of foreign policy rests on a stew of long-espoused and even conflicting convictions—that even close allies are treating the U.S. unfairly, that America gave away the canal to Panama for nothing, and that China is moving into what should be the U.S.-dominated Western Hemisphere.
Asked by a reporter if he would commit to not using military force or economic pressure in his quest to acquire the territories, Trump replied “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
Trump’s willingness to broach such ideas and his disregard for bipartisan doctrines left some aghast.
“We just haven’t seen anything like this, at least in my lifetime, from a president of the United States,” said Chuck Hagel, the former Republican Senator and defense secretary during the Obama administration. “This is very, very autocratic, and that is why it is so concerning what Trump is saying and how he’s acting.” --->READ MORE HERE (or HERE)What Trump Wants With Greenland:
President-elect Donald Trump has set his sights on a vast, ice-covered and sparsely populated island with a strategic location on the edge of the Arctic—and a whole lot of mineral riches.
At more than three times the size of Texas, Greenland’s ample deposits in rare earths, oil and gas, as well as its commanding position astride crucial trade and military arteries, have made it a focal point for major rival powers including the U.S., China and Russia.
Greenland’s rising profile reflects the larger global scramble for the Arctic as climate change opens maritime routes and reorders geopolitics at the top of the world. Russia reopened dozens of Soviet military bases in the Arctic as tensions with the West worsened over the invasion of Ukraine. China has pursued expanding shipping routes through the region’s melting ice and exploiting Greenland’s natural resources, including minerals used in everything from phones to electric cars and military equipment.
“We need it for national security,” Trump said Tuesday, refusing to rule out using military force to seize control of Greenland, as well as of the Panama Canal.
The president-elect’s latest comments sparked outrage among some officials and lawmakers in Europe, in particular Denmark, Greenland’s former colonial ruler that still governs foreign and security policy on the island and is a close U.S. ally.
On Wednesday, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the idea about Greenland wasn’t a good one. “But maybe more importantly, it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen. So we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it,” Blinken said during a visit to Paris.
Control over Greenland and the broader Arctic is valuable for projecting power, monitoring activities of rivals and securing shipping routes, analysts and officials say.
Trump’s national-security team has held preliminary talks about how to begin negotiations with Greenland and Denmark once he takes office, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The U.S. already has a presence on the island with what is its northernmost base, the Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base. It includes a radar station that is part of the U.S.’s ballistic missile early-warning system.
Greenland is also part of what is known as the GIUK gap, a crucial naval chokepoint between Greenland, Iceland and the U.K. that was closely watched during the Cold War. In recent years, Russia has increased its submarine patrols and exercises in the area.
Greenlanders and Danes say the island isn’t for sale. A self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland, with a population of around 56,000, decides on most domestic matters.
“Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” MĂște Egede, the island’s prime minister, wrote in a social-media post Tuesday. “Our future and fight for independence is our business.”
But world powers have been circling for some time.
Beijing has boosted its economic presence in the area, including investment in mining operations in Greenland. The Pentagon worked successfully in 2018 to block China from financing three airports on the island. --->READ MORE HERE (or HERE)
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