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First it was\u00a0Canada, then the\u00a0Panama Canal. Now,\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0again wants\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\n
The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful\u00a0calls he made during his first term\u00a0for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he\u2019s picking fights even before taking office on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n
In a Sunday announcement naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that, \u201cFor purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump again having designs on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the U.S. could retake control of the Panama Canal if something isn\u2019t done to ease rising shipping costs required for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ask something unreasonable and it\u2019s more likely you can get something less unreasonable,\u201d said Farnsworth, who is also author of the book \u201cPresidential Communication and Character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greenland, the world\u2019s largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large U.S. military base. It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, M\u00fate Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump\u2019s latest calls for U.S. control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cWe must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Danish Prime Minister\u2019s Office said in its own statement that the government is \u201clooking forward to welcoming the new American ambassador. And the Government is looking forward to working with the new administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, transatlantic cooperation is crucial,\u201d the statement said. It noted that it had no comment on Greenland except for it \u201cnot being for sale, but open for cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u00a0canceled a 2019 visit to Denmark\u00a0after his\u00a0offer to buy Greenland\u00a0was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately\u00a0came to nothing.<\/p>\n
He also suggested Sunday that the U.S. is getting \u201cripped off\u201d at the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Panama President\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino\u00a0responded in a video that \u201cevery square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to,\u201d but Trump fired back on his social media site, \u201cWe\u2019ll see about that!\u201d<\/p>\n
The president-elect also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, \u201cWelcome to the United States Canal!\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to\u00a0Panama\u00a0on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President\u00a0Jimmy Carter.<\/p>\n
The canal depends on reservoirs that were hit by 2023 droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships, administrators also increased the fees that shippers are charged to reserve slots to use the canal.<\/p>\n
The Greenland and Panama flareups followed Trump recently posting that \u201cCanadians want Canada to become the 51st State\u201d and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.<\/p>\n
Trudeau\u00a0suggested that Trump was joking\u00a0about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump\u2019s threats to impose\u00a0a 25% tariff\u00a0on all Canadian goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada is not going to become part of the United States, but Trump\u2019s comments are more about leveraging what he says to get concessions from Canada by putting Canada off balance, particularly given the precarious current political environment in Canada,\u201d Farnsworth said. \u201cMaybe claim a win on trade concessions, a tighter border or other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the situation is similar with Greenland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Trump wants is a win,\u201d Farnsworth said. \u201cAnd even if the American flag doesn\u2019t raise over Greenland, Europeans may be more willing to say yes to something else because of the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Source: AP)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n