Trumps' Greenland play
“We need Greenland for national security purposes I’ve been told that for a long time long… People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world… You don’t even need binoculars, you look outside, you have China ships all over the place, you have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen.”
That was President-elect Donald Trump at a Palm Beach, Fla. press conference on Jan. 7 articulating his desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark, bringing the icy wasteland under U.S. protection and countering China and Russia’s joint naval exercises and other activities in the region that Trump says endanger U.S. national security.
On Dec. 5, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and Global Resilience Iris Ferguson warned that the level of cooperation between China and Russia in the area was “unprecedented”: “The increasing levels of collaboration between Russia and the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and the unprecedented style of collaboration, especially in the military domain, give us again pause.”
Trump would not rule out the use of military force to extend a protectorate over Greenland as he took questions from reporters—similarly not ruling anything out as it related to Iran’s aggression in the Middle East, Hamas still holding U.S. hostages, dealing with drug cartels in Mexico and also in reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal, which was given up via a treaty in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter who recently passed away, with Panamanian control beginning in 2000.
At the press conference, Trump stated all options were on the table, stating, “I can’t assure you. You’re talking about Panama and Greenland, no, I can’t assure you on either of those two but… I can say this we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that now… It might be that you’ll have to do something.”
Trump added, “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China and… they’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made, by the way, giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion…”
As for Canada, which Trump has spoken about making the 51st state in the U.S., Trump said there he was looking specifically to assert “economic force”: “No, economic force, because Canada and the United States — that would really be something — 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.
Trump added, “Don’t forget, we basically protect Canada but here’s the problem with Canada so many friends up there uh I love the Canadian people they’re great but we’re spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it, we’re spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada… [that] we lose in trade deficits…”
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Trump is thinking big and the US should consider his ideas on Canada and the Panama Canal. they would both be strategic assets and both would profit from being a part of the US.
See also:
Worrying or welcome? What Greenlanders think of Trump’s bid to buy the island
And:
Trump Presser: Why We Should Not be Subsidizing Canada to the Tune of $200 Billion
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