WASHINGTON — Donald Trump promised to fix all of America’s problems, including two of the biggest issues of the 2024 election: the high cost of living and immigration and enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border.
He didn’t mention anything on the campaign trail about expanding America’s borders by annexing territory from longstanding U.S. allies — including by hostile means, if necessary.
With just two weeks until his inauguration, however, Trump is pushing — or at least joking about pushing — to absorb the sovereign nation of Canada, one of America’s closest allies, and more seriously promoting the seizure or purchase of Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, another steadfast U.S. ally and NATO member.
Along with his stated desire to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, Trump’s latest twist in foreign policy would usher in a new era of American imperialism not seen since the late 19th century.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the president-elect even refused to rule out using military force or economic sanctions to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, arguing the U.S. needed them to stem the influence of Russia and China and to bolster national security.
“It might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump said in reference to potentially using military or economic force. And in another move harkening back to the Manifest Destiny ethos of a bygone era, Trump vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,”.
