Canada, Greenland, Panama… Trump wants it all! in replay

Not yet invested, it will be next January 20, but already president. While Joe Biden only appears sporadically, Donal Trump is already exerting his influence from his residence at Mar-a-Lago, and is making resounding declarations on international politics. In a rambling and provocative press conference yesterday, he repeated his ambitions to annex the Panama Canal and Greenland, this time refusing to rule out the use of military force to achieve it.

The president-elect has already stated on several occasions that he wants to take over the Panama Canal, built by the United States and inaugurated in 1914, if the price of tolls for American ships is not reduced. He again castigated this Tuesday the agreement signed in 1977 by then President Jimmy Carter, which resulted in a transfer of control of the canal to Panama in 1999. “They are not treating us fairly. They are making us pay for our ships more than ships from other countries,” he said. “They make fun of us because they think we're stupid. But we're not stupid anymore,” he said.

Just before Christmas, Donald Trump also judged that control of Greenland was “an absolute necessity” for “national security and freedom around the world”. On Tuesday, he urged Denmark to “give up” on this autonomous territory, even though the Danish Prime Minister had recalled in recent days that “Greenland is not for sale”. Greenland is “a territory of the European Union. There is no question of the EU letting any other nation in the world attack its sovereign borders”, the leader reacted this morning of diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot on France Inter. The government spokesperson, for her part, denounced “a form of imperialism” and called on European countries to “protect themselves”.

The future American president also threatened to use “economic force” against Canada, this northern ally “subsidized” by the United States for its protection, according to him. Shortly after the announcement of the resignation of Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and then that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this Monday, both of whom disagree on how to manage the looming economic war with the American neighbor, Donald Trump once again believed that Canada should “merge” with the United States. In recent weeks, he had called Justin Trudeau “governor of 51ᵉ State” and had promised to impose customs duties of 25% on Canada and Mexico upon his return to power in January. For his part, the businessman and future American Minister of Government Effectiveness Elon Musk s Justin Trudeau was attacked on his social network you are no longer the “governor” of Canada, so what you say doesn't matter to us.”

This new outing from the boss of X and Tesla did not go unnoticed after his interference in the internal politics of Germany and the United Kingdom, for the benefit of the far right. Monday, during the traditional annual address of the President of the Republic to the ambassadors of France, Emmanuel Macron accused the American billionaire, without naming him, of supporting “a new reactionary international” and this Wednesday on France Inter Jean-Noël Barrot criticized the lack of firmness of the European Commission in the face of interference from Elon Musk. “The Commission must act with the greatest firmness. If it does not do so, it will be necessary to restore to the Member States the capacity to protect our public space,” he declared before recalling that the banning of X was a possibility real in Europe.

The president-elect's repeated declarations on Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada, of which he wants to make the 51st state, go far. What are his motivations? Why is Elon Musk attacking Europe? With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, is this the return of his policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran? And in what forms?

The experts:

– JAMES ANDRÉ – Senior reporter – France 24

– LAURENCE HAÏM – Journalist for The American Hour – France Info TV