Trump’s Ideas for Expanding US Prompt Harsh Criticisms
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump instigated an international and domestic backlash that continued Friday after he posted on social media Christmas Day that he wanted to buy Greenland, take control of the Panama Canal and to make Canada the 51st state.
In all three countries, political leaders are ridiculing Trump.
Some U.S. political analysts say his expansive proposal forebodes autocratic tendencies that could create havoc throughout his second administration.
Trump taunted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by calling him “governor” and threatening to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian exports unless border security and drug issues are resolved.
He added, “But if Canada was to become our 51st state, their taxes would be cut by more than 60 percent. Their businesses would immediately double in size and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world.”
Trudeau responded by posting a video on his X account that discussed close economic and diplomatic relations with the United States but gave no recognition to Canada being anything other than a separate country.
Charlie Angus, a member of Canada’s Parliament, was more harsh in criticizing Trump.
“Dear Donald, Thanks for including us in your deranged Christmas message,” Angus wrote in a social media post. “Being Canadian means free health care and limiting access to assault weapons. In your 51st state our kids would get shot at in school and CEOs would be shot for denying health care. So no. Now piss off. Your northern neighbour.”
In Panama, President José Raúl Mulino said there was no possibility of agreeing to a U.S. takeover of the Panama Canal.
“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians,” Mulino said during a press conference. “There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality.”
Trump based the idea of taking over the canal largely on Panama’s relations with China. Panama established diplomatic ties with China in 2017 while breaking off relations with its rival Taiwan.
Trump’s sarcastic post on Truth Social said, “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal.”
He accused Panama of “ripping off” Americans with high shipping rates.
Panama’s president called Trump’s allegations “nonsense.”
“There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal,” Mulino said.
He also said Panama would not reduce tolls for ships passing through the canal on the shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Greenland’s prime minister made equally strong criticisms of Trump’s proposal for buying Greenland.
Trump said that “for 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.”
Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said in a statement, “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
Greenland is a self-ruling territory of Denmark with about 50,000 residents on a large Arctic island.
Trump’s ideas for expanding the United States also ran into sharp criticism in the United States.
USA Today columnist Michael J. Stern told CNN, “When one country tries to take over parts of another country it’s not ‘expansion,’ it’s an illegal act of war.”
Election lawyer Marc Elias said on social media that “This ‘expansion’ would require military invasions of several allies in violation of international law.”
U.S. constitutional law authorizes the president to oversee foreign relations but not to intrude on other countries’ sovereignty. Any annexations of foreign countries or their properties would require either popular agreement of the annexed country or a U.S. constitutional amendment, according to constitutional law attorneys.
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