For several days, Donald Trump has not ruled out regaining control of the Panama Canal and obtaining Greenland by force. Should we take the future president seriously?
During a press conference a few days ago, Donald Trump said that he could not swear that the United States would not use armed force to take control of the Panama Canal and the same for Greenland.
A statement that caused quite a stir, but is it realistic? “We must not forget that Donald Trump is a businessman whose strategy is based on the balance of power with his partners.“, deciphers Sébastien Rosenfeld. “For the Panama Canal, it is to put pressure on local authorities by saying we must lower taxes for the right of passage for American ships passing through there. 74% of American ships pass through this strategic route, so it is very important.”
“For Greenland, it’s the same thing“, continues our specialist. “The idea is to give advantages to the United States. For Greenland, it is an area that is home to enormous amounts of oil. However, since 2021, Denmark has refused oil exploration, which hampers American companies. Donald Trump is simply blackmailing.”
How much credit should we give to these threats?
“With Donald Trump, you always have to be very careful, but a military attack seems very unlikely“, further reassures our journalist by answering this question. And for good reason, “in the case of Greenland, you should know that it belongs to Denmark, a NATO country and ally of the United States. Annexing a territory of a NATO country would be a major crisis within the Atlantic Alliance“. Another economic aspect: with global warming, new trade routes are opening in areas which were until now blocked by the Arctic ice pack. These maritime routes arouse the desire of Russia, of China, obviously, of the States -United.
Beyond the economic aspect, Greenland is very important for the United States in terms of military defense. An American base is installed near the town of Thule and can accommodate planes, bombers, but also radars which can detect a possible missile attack from Russia. “However, Washington criticizes Denmark for not sufficiently protecting this area. So Donald Trump says, if you don’t do it, I’ll do it myself. Denmark understands this, since it has just released 1.5 billion dollars to protect the area.”
donald trump canal de panama greenland
Related News :