The president-elect renews unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the United States to buy Greenland from Denmark, extending the list of allied countries he is feuding with before even officially taking his functions on January 20.
In a press release issued Sunday to nominate his ambassador to Denmark, Mr. Trump wrote that “for reasons of national security and global freedom, the United States believes that ownership and control of Greenland is a necessity. absolute”.
Trump's renewed focus on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the United States could regain control of the Panama Canal if nothing is done. to reduce the increase in maritime transport costs involved in the use of the waterway linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
He also suggested that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “governor of the great state of Canada.”
Greenland, the largest island in the world, is located between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice cap and is home to a major American military base.
Danish Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede said Trump's latest calls for US control are as insignificant as those made during his first term.
“Greenland belongs to us. We are not for sale and we never will be. We must not lose the fight we have been waging for years for freedom,” he said in a press release.
Mr Trump canceled a planned visit to Denmark in 2019 after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately came to nothing.
He also suggested Sunday that the United States was being “ripped off” over the Panama Canal.
“If the moral and legal principles of this magnanimous gesture are not respected, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States in its entirety, quickly and without question,” he said.
Panama's President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama,” but Mr. Trump responded on his social media platform: “We'll see about that!” .
The president-elect also posted a photo of an American flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase “Welcome to the United States Canal.”
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s, but ceded control to Panama on December 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
The canal relies on reservoirs that were hit by droughts in 2023, forcing administrators to significantly reduce the number of daily slots for ships to pass through. With fewer ships, they also increased the fees charged to shippers to reserve slots to use the canal.
Donald Trump's statements on Greenland and Panama follow his recent posting of a message stating that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state,” accompanied by an image of himself overlooking the Rocky Mountains next to it. of a Canadian flag.
Mr. Trudeau argued that Mr. Trump was joking about annexing his country. The billionaire made this allusion during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to discuss with the Prime Minister the 25% customs tariffs that he intends to impose on all Canadian imports.
