Donald Trump continues his provocations on the Panama Canal and Greenland. The president-elect, who will be inaugurated on January 20, repeated his ambitions to annex them on Tuesday during a disjointed press conference.
The meeting from his Mar-a-Lago residence was supposed to concern an Emirati investment in the United States. But Donald Trump quickly moved away from this question to address a wide range of topics for more than an hour. As usual, it is difficult to distinguish between real announcements and exaggerations in his sensational declarations.
A canal built by the United States
Asked if he could guarantee that he would not use the armed forces to annex the Panama Canal, a vital artery of global shipping, and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, Donald Trump replied: “I I can’t assure you of either of them. »
The president-elect has already stated on several occasions that he wants to take back 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 on Tuesday the agreement made in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter, which resulted in a transfer of control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
“They don’t treat us fairly. They charge our ships more than the ships of other countries,” said Donald Trump. “They make fun of us because they think we are stupid. But we are no longer stupid now,” he said. But Panama’s sovereignty over this canal “is not negotiable”, replied Javier Martinez-Acha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this Central American country.
Just before Christmas, the president-elect 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. His son, Donald Trump Jr, was in Greenland at the time on a private visit as a “tourist”. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,” insisted Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on television upon the arrival of Donald Trump Jr at Nuuk airport.
A categorical no from Trudeau
Donald Trump also threatened to use “economic force” against Canada, this ally “subsidized” by the United States for its protection, according to him. Shortly after the announcement of the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, Donald Trump said that Canada should “merge” with the United States.
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The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, replied that Canada would “never back down from threats”, while Justin Trudeau added: “Never, ever, will Canada be part of the United States”. Which did not prevent Donald Trump from posting a map of the United States which includes Canada a few hours later on his Truth Social network.
