Analysis: What does Trump want from threats at Greenland, Panama Canal?

Appointing an ambassador would typically focus on diplomacy, fostering cooperation and facilitating dialogue. It is rare, if not unprecedented, for a president to link an ambassadorial appointment to public threats or remarks about purchasing territories.

In announcing his nominee for ambassador to Denmark on December 22, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stirred controversy when he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, "For the purpose 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."

Trump's call for buying Greenland from Denmark came one day after the incoming 47th U.S. president said the Panama Canal is considered "a vital national asset" for the United States and threatened to reclaim it. This followed his suggestion that Canada become the 51st state of the United States. He doubled down on these calls in his Christmas message.

Then on Tuesday, Trump ramped up his threats. In his first press conference after his election win was officially certified by U.S. Congress, Trump said he would not dismiss using "military force or economic coercion" to seize control of the Panama Canal or Greenland as an option when asked whether he would rule out such a possibility.

Trump's long-standing territorial designs on Greenland

Last December, hours after Trump expressed his desire for the U.S. to own Greenland, Denmark's autonomous territory with a high degree of self-governance, the Danish government announced plans to increase defense spending on the island to strengthen its presence in the Arctic region. Copenhagen is responsible for the foreign affairs, defense and security of Greenland.

"We have not invested enough in the Arctic for many years; now we are planning a stronger presence," Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in announcing a package that includes purchasing new patrol ships, drones, and upgrading a civilian airport to accommodate F-35 fighter jets.

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede has already rejected Trump's designs on the resource-rich island.

"We are not for sale and will never be for sale," Egede declared in a written statement to Danish broadcaster DR. "Greenland is ours. We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom."

Trump's plan to buy Greenland isn't a novel idea. He first floated the idea back in 2019 during his first term, when Trump reportedly consulted with his advisors multiple times about the feasibility of acquiring the world's largest island, viewing it largely as "a big real estate deal."

In August 2019, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dismissed the idea as "absurd" and "not something that is seriously meant," leading Trump to cancel a scheduled state visit in early September to Denmark, a close U.S. ally and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In analyzing Trump's interest in Greenland, experts suggest that as global warming causes glaciers to melt, Greenland's usable land will increase, leading to heightened commercial and naval rivalry among major powers in the Arctic. Furthermore, Greenland is rich in rare earth minerals, which are crucial for advancing clean technology. It is also said to be home to the northernmost U.S. Air Force base.

Marc Jacobsen, an expert in Arctic security and diplomacy at the Royal Danish Defence College, told the Daily Express newspaper that Trump's concept of buying Greenland in his first term was received as "a neocolonial provocation," and his long-standing interest in the island stems from Washington's "historic interest in focusing on geo-strategic location and mineral wealth."

Trump is not the first U.S. president to consider purchasing Greenland. The idea was first proposed by President Andrew Johnson in 1867. In 1946, the Harry Truman administration, which saw Greenland as a strategic asset against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, offered to exchange parts of Alaska for Greenland and later offered $100 million in gold to buy the island, both of which were rejected.

Trump's threats at Panama Canal

While keeping a watchful eye on Greenland in the north, Trump also harbored ambitions for the U.S. to reclaim the ownership of the Panama Canal in the south.

In a Truth Social post on December 21, the U.S. president-elect threatened to retake the vital international maritime trade route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, citing "exorbitant prices and rates of passage" on U.S. Navy and commercial vessels transiting the canal.

He accused Panama of treating the U.S. "in a very unfair and injudicious way" and said, "This complete 'rip-off' of our country will immediately stop."

Trump's remarks were met with strong rejection from Panama and the wider region.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino stressed that "every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama." Mulino also defended the toll-setting process of the Panama Canal as public, open and not subject to the whims of any individual, rejecting the idea of reducing tolls for U.S. ships.

In a statement, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty, a regional bloc, slammed Trump's comments as "an act of aggression" against Panama's sovereignty and warned that such remarks represent a threat not only to Panama but to the broader Latin American and Caribbean region.

On December 31, 2024, Panama celebrated the 25th anniversary of the handover of the Panama Canal, which had been under the control of the United States for nearly a century. Under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed by Panama's General Omar Torrijos and then U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1977, the canal was returned to Panamanian control as of December 31, 1999.

In 2011, during an interview with U.S. media, Trump said that the U.S. decision to return the Panama Canal was "stupid." He was declared persona non grata by the Panama City Council.

Bluffing or bullying?

Analysts suggest that Trump's threats to purchase Greenland and reclaim the Panama Canal are maneuvers to pressure other countries during negotiations. However, they argue his remarks could damage U.S. credibility and undermine the international order.

Ben Cardin, chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump's claim of retaking the Panama Canal has affected Washington's credibility on the global stage. "Our allies don't know whether we are reliable partners or not," Cardin said.

While there are historical precedents for U.S. territorial expansion, such as purchasing Alaska from Russia in 1867 and Louisiana from France in 1803, it is widely believed that there are no feasible means for Trump to reclaim control of the Panama Canal or purchase Greenland under the current international system.

Jones Cooper, a professor at the University of Panama, said Panama is the rightful owner of the Panama Canal, and the idea of the U.S. reclaiming the canal is legally baseless and utterly absurd, according to China Media Group.

Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua: "Trump has raised a lot of issues that are not likely to go anywhere, such as Greenland joining America and the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal." "There is little support for those ideas in the international community or in the locales themselves," West said.

In an interview with Newsweek, Sean Adams, an American history expert at the University of Florida, said Trump's proposals were "a throwback to the 19th century" of American imperialism.

Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, made a stern warning in a comment to British daily The Guardian about the dangers of the series of Trump's threats. "It's about chaos. It's about unpredictability," said Jacobs.