In the last weeks before Donald Trump returned to the White House, no one seemed too interested in discussing his confirmations of his Cabinet picks or any other part of his campaign agenda, such as mass deportations and lowering prices.
No, believe it or not, we’re not talking about expansionism in 2025. Trump, who was wildly criticized for the U.S. military involvement in other countries, is now advocating for America to gain more global territory, even with force if necessary.
We can call it his annexation agenda. In the most recent days, Trump has continuously pushed the idea that he might take over Greenland from Denmark, reclaim the Panama Canal after the United States returned it to the Panamanian government many decades ago, and absorb Canada into the United States.
Trump also said that he keeps the option of using military control of Greenland and the Panama Canal on the table, while also exerting additional “economic force” to pressure Canada to join the U.S. He also explained that he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Denali, North America’s tallest peak.
What did the leaders of these countries say?
Panamanian, Danish, as well as Canadian leaders have obviously shot down the soon-to-be-invested president’s wishes, and their responses ranged from a simple no to “a snowball’s chance in hell.” Trump is more than willing to provoke longtime U.S. allies and throw out unexpected demands, and that should give us a glimpse of the overall domestic and global shakeup he is bound to initiate.
Democrats and Republicans who discussed this matter at NBC News, including some of Trump’s closest allies, said that some of his most recent demands are quite serious, and some are just ways to gain leverage for other parts of his agenda.
Some of them are just trolling. Greenland is also an island Trump desires very much. A person familiar with the aforementioned discussions declared that Trump has never given up on getting Greenland, which he tried to buy during his first term for defense reasons and was rapidly rebuffed.
This person also added that Trump loves watching all the ways in which the effort makes people all worried. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., took this trip to Nuuk, which is the largest population center on the island of around 57,000 people, and the president-elect called in to deliver quite a message to Greenlanders.
Getting the Panama Canal falls right into the category of something Trump might desire in the future, but it is also being used as an economic pressure campaign.
For many years, he felt that President Jimmy Carter shouldn’t have returned the Panama Canal to Panama. However, for John Bolton, a former Trump national security adviser who has since cut ties with him, his declarations to NBC News in one of his most recent interviews are slightly different now.
He explained that even if he served under Donald Trump, he didn’t hear anything about acquiring the Panama Canal (or making Canada the 51st state). Reclaiming the canal wasn’t on Trump’s agenda during his first term in office.
However, the whole deal is now on the table because of yet another part of Trump’s agenda, which is combating the influence of China. According to his person and yet another person familiar with those discussions, Trump allies have come with the president-elect data, arguing there’s plenty of Chinese encroachment in the Western Hemisphere, with an emphasis on Panama’s capacity to prioritize Chinese over American shipping.
There’s yet another person who’s quite familiar with those discussions, who further explained that Trump’s threats are meant to act as a “negotiating tool” to get Panama to treat U.S. shipments in a more favorable way.
As for Canada, Trump’s remarks amount simply to an “epic troll,” as he is not serious at all about absorbing the country into the United States. However, this person said that this trolling could get some policies to cut his way and help with negotiations.
Only last month, Canadian officials decided to adopt a new plan to increase spending on border security, which was a primary focus of the Republican presidential primary campaign last year.
If anything, the two prepositions to reclaim the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland are far more serious, pointing to Trump Jr.’s most recent visit to Greenland.
In the meantime, some of the soon-to-be president’s earliest ambassador picks were Canada, Denmark, and Panama, and his statements confirming the latter two also included references to Greenland and the Panama Canal. John D. Feeley, the U.S. ambassador to Panama under President Barack Obama and Trump Donald Trump’s public push, will only put upcoming ambassadors behind the eight ball.
As he added, “If Trump tries to operationalize the threats made to Panama, Canada, or Greenland, it will put any other ambassador in one of the most difficult positions: telling a treaty ally your boss plans to take their sovereign homeland.”
Countering China’s influence
Trump and his allies pointed to national security as the reason why the U.S. should buy Greenland. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform only last month that American “ownership and control of Greenland is absolutely needed.”
The island, which has been under Denmark’s control since the 14th century, was fully integrated into Denmark in 1953 under the country’s constitution, then it became a self-governing territory in 1979. Greenlanders have full citizenship in Denmark.
Greenland is much closer to New York than it is to Copenhagen, and the United States briefly occupied it during World War II. It is also the home of one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases and a huge mineral reserve. In the most recent years, China sought to make inroads on the island.
According to Carla Sands, Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark, the Danes do not possess the needed capacity to defend the island, while China’s attempts to boost ties with Greenland have had American officials on very high alert.
“We are wonderful partners and allies with Denmark. We also had diplomatic relations with them for 200 years. They are founding members of NATO. We are in good relationships, but good relationships sometimes have tough conversations.
One of the conversations was “How are you going to defend Greenland, part of your kingdom, when you can’t defend Denmark proper?” Moreover, the only capabilities controlled by Denmark are defense and foreign policy.
Everything else is controlled by Greenland. Well, this makes Greenland truly vulnerable to bad actors, especially since they want economic growth.
Amidst the most recent claims, Rufus Gifford, the ambassador to Denmark in the Obama administration, explained that gaining Greenland isn’t anywhere as simple as Trump might make it seem. To start with, “any Danish prime minister that loses Greenland in this day and age will be the laughingstock of the country, and that would be forever.”
On top of that, it seems that Greenlanders do not want to give up on their “fairly privileged place in Danish society.” But as far as national security goes, Gifford also explained that any military incursion into Greenland would invoke NATO’s Article Five, which requires the alliance’s members to step up and defend it.
Congressional Republicans already started pushing legislation to advance the agenda. We can only wait and see what the future will bring.
If you found this article insightful, we also recommend checking: Trump Plans to End Birthright Citizenship and Pardons Us Capitol Rioters
