President-elect Donald Trump appears to be entertaining an American territorial expansion that, if he’s serious, would rival the Louisiana Purchase or the deal that netted Alaska from Russia.
In the past week, he’s taunted Canadian officials by suggesting the US could absorb its northern neighbor and make it the 51st state. He threatened to take over the Panama Canal, the US-made waterway controlled for a quarter century by its Central American namesake. And on Sunday, he resurfaced his first-term desire to obtain Greenland, a Danish territory he has long eyed.
With Trump, the differences between serious policy proposals and rhetorical flourishes intended to stoke media attention or energize his base are not always clear. At other times, his provocations have appeared to be the opening salvos in his attempts at dealmaking.
Indeed, when Trump vocalized his threat to take back the Panama Canal this weekend, he did so with an out for the country to avoid his wrath: lower fees on American ships that utilize the passageway to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
“So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly,” he warned on Sunday during remarks to conservative activists in Arizona.
Still, the suggestions are strikingly similar in their focus on expanding the United States’ footprint abroad. And for someone who argued during the campaign that the US should pull back from foreign intervention, the ideas carry modern echoes of the 19th century doctrine of Manifest Destiny — a belief in the United States’ divine right to expand across the continent.
Trump on Sunday evening called ownership of Greenland an “absolute necessity” for “purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World.” His pitch to seize the Panama Canal – which he described as a “vital national asset” though it’s been decades since America controlled it – reflected a similarly nationalist agenda that Trump often describes as “America First.”
Speaking in Arizona this weekend, Trump also reiterated plans to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a distinction that could preface the use of military force on Mexican soil. Trump has threatened to drop bombs on fentanyl labs and send special forces to take out cartel leaders, an incursion that could violate Mexico’s sovereignty and disrupt relations with the United States’ largest trading partner.
Trump’s transition team declined to clarify whether these latest statements reflect genuine ambitions or other motivations, instead pointing CNN back to his recent comments and social media posts.
Several people close to and within Trump’s transition could not pinpoint the origins of his sudden interest in the ongoing activities at the Panama Canal, a topic that he didn’t raise on the campaign trail. One adviser, though, noted that Trump regularly elevates causes brought to his attention by people ranging from longtime friends to new acquaintances if it animates him. Since winning the election last month, Trump has spent most days entertaining close allies, business titans, donors and heads of state at his Palm Beach estate.
Another adviser said concerns about treatment of US companies in Panama likely resonated with Trump because “trade is top of mind for him.” Pressuring Panama to lower fees on ships that use the canal could also help offset an expected rise in costs of products resulting from the tariffs Trump intends to impose on foreign goods.
“I always take him seriously, even though they may sound a little bit out there,” Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez said of Trump’s comments on Fox Business on Monday. “It’s a legitimate threat to Panama.”
Panama President José Raúl Mulino posted a lengthy statement in Spanish and English on social media declaring ownership of the port “not negotiable.” Built at the turn of the 20th century, the canal was operated by the US until 1999, when it was fully turned over to Panama under a treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter two decades prior that guaranteed American use of the canal in perpetuity.
“I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama, and will continue to,” Mulino wrote.
The response did little to discourage Trump and his allies, though, who responded with memes and images on social media doubling down on his latest cause.
“Welcome to the United States Canal,” Trump posted on Truth Social, along with a picture of a US flag sailing on the waterway.
Mulino, speaking to CNN en Espanol contributor Andres Oppenheimer for an interview that will air this Sunday, scoffed at Trump’s criticism that Panama is unable to ensure the canal’s operation. “That is a manifestation of gross ignorance of history. The canal will celebrate 25 years under Panamanian hands, under Panamanian administration, on December 31,” he said, highlighting work, including an expansion project, that Panama has achieved since the US turned it over, which he said, “leaves multimillion-dollar profits for our national economy.”
Trump’s pitch to purchase Greenland from Denmark, which he first made in his first term, was similarly rebuffed.
The prime minister of the autonomous Danish territory, Mute Egede, said in a Facebook post on Monday, “Greenland is ours” and “we are not for sale and will never be for sale.”
The office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen – who called Trump’s first-term suggestion that Greenland could be purchased “absurd” – echoed Egede.
“The government is looking forward to working with the new [Trump] administration. In a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, transatlantic cooperation is crucial,” a Monday statement said. “As far as statements about Greenland, the Prime Minister’s Office has no comments other than reference to what was stated by the Premier of Greenland about Greenland not being for sale, but open for cooperation,” the statement added.
Trump first discussed the idea privately and publicly confirmed it in 2019, though he ultimately downplayed his interest.
“Strategically it’s interesting, and we would be interested, but we will talk with them a little bit,” he said at the time. “It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.”
However, he resurfaced the idea on Sunday in a news release announcing PayPay co-founder Ken Howery as his choice to serve as ambassador to Denmark.
Trump’s proposal to annex Canada appears far less serious and more so a public needling of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the two dined recently at Mar-a-Lago. The president-elect has, though, continued to tease the idea on social media.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he wrote in a recent post.
The episode stems from another Trump provocation, this one to implement 25% tariffs on goods originating from Canada and Mexico, that is illustrative of his approach to negotiating with foreign leaders.
In many ways, the gambit delivered the intended result: leaders from both countries immediately sought an audience with Trump to reaffirm their commitment to assist the US on border issues. And it provided an early avenue for Trump to claim victory over a foreign target.
“President Trump Is Securing The Border,” his transition team wrote in a recent release, “And He Hasn’t Even Taken Office Yet.”
