Trump Suggests Using Military or Economic Forces to Take Greenland and the Panama Canal

President-elect Donald J. Trump refused on Tuesday to rule out the use of military force or economic coercion to force Panama to relinquish control of a canal built by the United States more than a century ago and to force Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States.

In a press conference that lasted an hour, Mr. Trump repeatedly returned to the theme of America’s commitment to building the canal and falsely accused China of using it today. When pressed on the question of whether he might order the military to force Panama to abandon it – in violation of agreements and other agreements reached during the Carter administration – or to do the same with Greenland, he said: “No, I can’t.” I assure you of one of these two things.”

“We need them for our economic security – the Panama Canal was built for our military,” he said. Asked if he will not use military force, he said: “I will not commit to that.” You might have to do something.”

The speeches of Mr. Trump continued his repeated call for the expansion of the American territory to a new level, which should raise three allies of the United States – Panama; Denmark, which handles Greenland’s foreign and security affairs; and Canada, which he has derided as the “51st State” of America. On Tuesday, however, he made it clear he wasn’t kidding, suggesting that if Canada remains an independent country the financial costs of its trade relationship with the United States could become difficult.

Maybe Mr. Trump was sending, to negotiate a profit. But since the days of William McKinley, who participated in the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century and ended up controlling the US in the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, an elected American president openly threatened the use of force. expanding the territorial boundaries of the country.

It was a reminder that Mr. Trump’s “America First” means nothing but isolation. He comes to American foreign policy with the mindset of a real estate developer, with a passion for taking over land.

He insisted that he would not block the agreement signed with Panama, which was approved by the Senate in 1978 by 68 to 32, beyond the two-thirds vote required by the constitution. He pointed out that the return of control of the Canal to Panama is a bad idea – saying that he was reluctant to say this when the nation was burying former President Jimmy Carter, who negotiated the deal. Then he came back, again and again, criticizing the judgment of Mr. Carter.

“He was a very good man,” said Mr. Trump. “But that was a big mistake,” he added. “It cost us the equivalent of three billion dollars.”

In Canada, Mr. Trump, when pressed, threatened to use “economic power,” not military force, to join Canada and the United States together, meaning that the United States would restore its purchases of Canadian products.

He announced that he would use tariffs to interfere with Canada’s ability to assemble cars and sell them to the United States, and charged that Canada contributed too little to American defense. He did not refer to NORAD, a joint American-Canadian defense effort that is considered the military model of a joint military early warning system, run equally by the two allies. It is the core of America’s air and missile defenses.

He continued his push Tuesday evening, posting maps on social media showing Canada as part of the United States.

He also said at a press conference that he would “charge Denmark at a very high rate” if it did not hand over Greenland to the United States, before questioning whether Denmark had a legitimate claim to Greenland at all.

The threats, vague and unstructured, were part of a series of announcements Mr Trump made about his plans when he took office less than two weeks later. He said the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the “Gulf of America,” although it was unclear how serious he was about the effort.

He announced that NATO members, who have been slow to fulfill the obligation to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, should now prepare for a world where they should spend 5 percent.

“They can all afford it, but they should be 5 percent, not 2 percent,” he said, before threatening again that he would not protect any NATO partner who did not, in his opinion, pay enough into the program. Mr Putin has used these threats in the past to sow a rift within NATO, an alliance he did not want to take directly as it helped Ukraine.

Criticism of Mr. Trump on NATO is not alone: ​​Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden have all taken up the case, and the biggest progress in meeting the 2 percent goal has come under Mr. celebrated at the NATO summit in Washington in July during the alliance’s 75th anniversary.

And even some European leaders, speaking privately, say they agree that the target should be moved to 3 percent if Europe is to hope to mobilize military power to deter Russia in the coming decades. They often add that there is no political place to spend money at that level.

But they may be driven there out of necessity if they are convinced that the United States will not help them. “I would like to say yes, we will protect you even if you don’t pay, but that’s not the way life works,” said Mr. Trump told reporters.

Mr. Trump repeated his threat that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if hostages held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day, repeating the threat four times.

But it was Mr. Trump about the expansion of American territories that was very prominent in the press conference, and not caught in international law.

In December, when Mr. With Trump stepping up his calls for the purchase of Greenland and voicing his complaints about the way an American ship was treated when transiting the Panama Canal, Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group noted that Mr. on the grounds that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made for invading Ukraine.

But to put together the series of Mr. Trump’s social media posts about these issues, and hearing his complaints at his private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, one thing is clear: He is building a national security case for why the United States is taking Greenland. and the Panama Canal Zone is required.

He also noted on Tuesday that Chinese and Russian ships were approaching Greenland, a clear indication of countries’ interest in short-haul shipping and military routes after global warming and shrinking ice, making it easier to pass. He pointed out that China, which controls two ports along the canal, used the canal itself; it is not.

After Mr. Trump responded to the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday by writing on social media that “many people in Canada LOVE the 51st State,” Mr. Bremmer commented in a post on X that “American imperialism is back in a big way.”

In fact, it often sounded that way at the press conference, as Mr. Trump rejecting the declarations of the Danish leadership that Greenland is not for sale, as well as similar comments from Panama. The only question now is whether he will increase the pressure for negotiation purposes, or if he will actually make good on his threats.