Trump proposed this morning: annex Canada and control Greenland?

Author: jk, Odaily Planet Daily

On Tuesday, January 7, local time in the United States, Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The press conference was initially promoted as an economic development announcement, revealing that Dubai developer Damac Properties was investing US$20 billion in construction in the United States. Data center plans. However, Trump then discussed several new topics related to U.S. geopolitics. At this press conference, which can be called "ground-breaking", Trump proposed new topics in four directions: increasing the proportion of military expenditures among NATO members, making Canada the 51st state of the United States, and not giving up the military. Occupied the Panama Canal and Greenland, and renamed the Gulf of Mexico "American Gulf".

Trump used to often talk nonsense about many political promises, but now he has really become the "general commander" who can control the House and Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House. Who knows whether he will have the determination to implement this and disrupt North America? What about geopolitics?

Use economic means to "merge Canada"

Source: Truth Social

On the day of the press conference, Trump posted such a tweet on Truth Social, believing that many Canadians are willing to become a new U.S. state, which can reduce fiscal deficits and tariffs, and reduce imports from Russia and China. threaten. Asked how serious he was about the topic, Trump made clear he was "not kidding," suggesting the financial cost of Canada's trade relationship with the United States could be devastating if it remains a sovereign nation.

Trump also vowed to use "economic means" when asked whether he would try to annex Canada, calling the two countries' shared border an "artificial line." But, in fact, this border is the longest border between nations in the world, established in treaties dating back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century.

Trump said the United States spends billions of dollars a year protecting Canada and criticized imports of Canadian cars, lumber and dairy products. "They should become a state," he told reporters.

According to the BBC, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there is "no chance" of a merger between the two countries.

Previously, Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, saying that he did not have enough support within the Liberal Party to lead the Liberal Party in this year's election. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, a potential contender to succeed Trudeau, said in a social media post that Canada "will never back down from threats." Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party in Trudeau's government, has said Canada will "never" become a state of the United States.

There is no guarantee of control of the Panama Canal and Greenland

without the use of force

During this press conference, Trump repeatedly mentioned the costs that the United States has paid in building the canal and accused China of currently operating the canal. Subsequently, multiple news media issued fact checks clarifying that the operation of the canal has nothing to do with China. Any relationship. Asked whether he might order the military to force Panama to abandon the canal or do the same with Greenland, he said: "No, I can't guarantee you those two things."

If force were to be used, it would violate treaties and other agreements made during the Carter administration. And he has repeatedly criticized Carter's judgment.

According to the New York Times, Trump’s exact words were: “We need them for economic security — the Panama Canal was built for our military purposes,” he said. Asked again if he would rule out the use of military force, he said: "I'm not going to commit to that. Something may need to be done."

After the meeting, the President of Panama refuted Trump's statement and stated that "there is absolutely no Chinese interference in the canal."

Regarding Greenland, Trump believes that there are multiple Russian and Chinese ships operating around Greenland, so Greenland will be closely related to U.S. national security and safe navigation. He said at a press conference that if Denmark does not hand over Greenland to the United States, he will "impose very high tariffs on Denmark" and questioned whether Denmark has legal sovereignty over Greenland.

At this time, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was visiting Greenland. Before arriving in the capital, Nuuk, Trump Jr. said he would make a "personal day trip" to talk to locals and had no plans to meet with government officials.

The Danish Prime Minister said immediately after the press conference that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people."

Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group said there were similarities between Trump's reasoning and Putin's justification for invading Ukraine. The message he released publicly stated, "U.S. imperialism is back." It is difficult to imagine that this sentence came from a European.

Trump told reporters, "I'm talking about protecting the free world."

Let NATO members increase the proportion of military expenditures they

pay for U.S. troops.

According to the New York Times, Trump claimed that NATO members have been slow to fulfill their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense funding and should now be prepared to spend 5%.

"They can all afford it, but they should be spending 5 percent, not 2 percent," Trump said, before renewing his threat not to protect any NATO allies if they, in his opinion, don't pay enough for the system.

Trump's criticism of NATO continues what has been bipartisan: George Bush, Obama and Biden have all raised the issue, and it was Biden's tenure that saw the greatest progress toward the 2 percent target, even among some European leaders Privately, they agree that the target should be raised to 3% if Europe hopes to build up enough military power to deter Russia in the coming decades. They often add that there is no political basis for reaching this level.

According to NATO's latest assessment, 23 of the 32 allies are expected to reach the 2% defense expenditure target of GDP in 2024, compared with only three in 2014. But now, Trump has made it clear that this level should be raised to 5%, otherwise he will threaten to withdraw troops.

Rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of the United States"

Trump said the United States would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "American Gulf," tying the potential name change to his longstanding dissatisfaction with Mexico's mishandling of immigration, drug smuggling and trade. Related comments.

"We will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America," Trump said at a news conference. "...What a beautiful name, and so fitting."

Gulf of Mexico next to Florida, source: Google

This body of water has many names, but European explorers and cartographers have used the name "Gulf of Mexico" for at least 400 years.

While the U.S. federal government has existing mechanisms to rename recognized place names, even if a federal name is officially changed, that doesn't mean other countries will recognize the change.

Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene immediately said that day that she planned to pass congressional legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.

"I have directed my staff to immediately begin drafting legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of the United States," Green wrote on social media. "This is important to begin funding map changes across all agencies within the federal government, such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the military."