Trump threatens to take away the Panama Canal and buy Greenland

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to regain control of the Panama Canal and buy Greenland.

Trump made this statement at the AmericaFest 2024 event in Phoenix, Reuters reports.

The Panama Canal is a shipping canal connecting the Gulf of Panama in the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, located in Panama. The canal accounts for 2.5% of world maritime trade, and up to 14,000 ships pass through it annually.

The Panama Canal is essential for importing automobiles and other commercial goods from Asia to the United States and for exporting American goods, including natural gas. The United States built the Panama Canal in 1920 and transferred it to Panama in 1999.

"If the principles, both moral and legal, of this generous gift [by the United States] are not upheld, we will demand the full return of the Panama Canal, quickly and without question," Trump said.

According to Trump, Panama has set excessively high tariffs for using the canal, and China is influencing its operation. Reuters writes that China does not control or manage the canal. However, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings operates two ports located at the entrances to the canal.

After AmericaFest 2024, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of the Panama Canal with an American flag waving in the wind on the social network Truth Social.

“Welcome to the United States Channel,” Trump wrote.

After Trumpʼs speech, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino tweeted that Panamaʼs independence is non-negotiable and that China has no influence over the management of the canal. Mulino also defended the establishment of tariffs for passage through the canal, saying it is not a whim, but a necessity.

“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to it,” Mulino said. In response, according to Reuters, Trump said: “We’ll see!”

This is not the first time Donald Trump has considered the possibility of territorial expansion. He chose Ken Howry as the US ambassador to Denmark and, while introducing him, returned to the topic of buying Greenland from Denmark:

"For the sake of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States believes that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," Trump wrote.

Greenland is the largest island in the world and an autonomous territory of Denmark. During his first presidential term (2017-2021), Trump had already advocated buying Greenland. But Denmark publicly rejected him before he could begin negotiations.

And Trump is not the first US president to have wanted to buy Greenland. In 1946, US President Harry Truman offered $100 million for it, but was turned down.

And a few days ago, Trump proposed turning Canada into another US state and called it a "great idea."

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