Shocking statements that foreshadow’a turbulent mandate on the international scene. During’In a disjointed press conference, Donald Trump detailed his foreign policy ambitions this Tuesday, January 6, multiplying provocative statements in the’regarding the territories that’would like to see a return to the American fold.
In a mix of threats and provocations, he reiterated his territorial claims to the Panama Canal and Greenland. While’they asked him’he could guarantee that’he’would not use the armed forces to annex the’vital artery of global shipping and the autonomous territory of Denmark, Donald Trump responded: “I can’t tell you’Of course, in neither of them.”
“We are no longer stupid”
The president-elect has already stated on several occasions that he wants to recover the Panama Canal, built by the United States and inaugurated in 1914, if the price of tolls for American ships does not go down.’It was not reduced. He attacked again on Tuesday’agreement signed in 1977 by the president of’then Jimmy Carter, resulting in a transfer of control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
“They are not treating us fairly. They are charging our ships more than the ships of’other countries,” said Donald Trump. “They’re making fun of us because’They think we are stupid. But we are not stupid anymore,” he said.
“Merry Christmas to everyone, including the wonderful Chinese soldiers who lovingly, but illegally, exploit the Panama Canal,” he had already written at the end of December in a post full of’irony in his Truth Social network. Panama was “swindling us,” he claimed, “far beyond their wildest dreams.”
“Heal’habit of threatening to get a deal“, deciphers the researcher Cécile Coquet-Mokoko on our antenna. For the professor of American civilization in the’University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, these threats’part of Donald Trump’s desire to “put the interests of'”America first.”
Greenland, a “necessity”
At this very end of the message.’A year after The Truth, the 47th American president also considered control of Greenland “an absolute necessity” for “national security and freedom throughout the world.”
This Tuesday he again urged Denmark to “give up” this autonomous territory. The same day, his son, Donald Trump Jr, was in Greenland for a private visit as a “tourist.”
l’The billionaire’s interest in the largest island in the world.’It’s not new. Already in 2019, the then 45th American president had considered’buy the territory that has been under Danish sovereignty since 1814.
Previously in the’history, that’it’s there’Former US President Harry Truman, who had his sights set on Greenland. Then the White House made an offer to’purchase of 100 million dollars in Denmark that’he had refused. The Scandinavian country had already rejected a similar offer in 1867 when’America of’Andrew Johnson had wanted to acquire the territory after purchasing the’Alaska to Russia for 7 million dollars.
The Danish autonomous territory, which aspires to gain sovereignty but remains financially dependent on Copenhagen, awakens desire for its natural resources and its geostrategic importance: the United States already has a military base there.
“With melting ice linked to global warming, roads in the’Asia to’Europe vo. An “idea” that’I had already suggested it to Justin Trudeau in early December, when our defense advisor, Jérôme Clech, discussed it on BFMTV. “There are issues of’supply of energy and critical materials that are at stake throughout the perimeter’Arctic”, so Donald Trump wants to maintain “control” over the region, continues our specialist.
Canada, a “51st State”
Donald Trump also reiterated his desire to make Canada the “51st state” of the United States. An “idea” that’He had already suggested it to Justin Trudeau at the beginning of December, when the still Prime Minister of Canada visited the Republican in Florida.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump threatened to use “economic force” against his Canadian neighbor, an ally “subsidized” by the United States for its protection, according to him. A few hours later he published a map of the United States that includes Canadian territory on his Truth Social network.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly responded that Canada “will never back down from threats,” while Justin Trudeau added: “Canada will never, ever be part of the United States.”
“Girl, you’re no longer the governor of Canada, so what you say doesn’t matter,” replied billionaire and close supporter of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, who is intensifying attacks on the leaders of his Western X network.
Even before taking office on January 20, future US president Donald Trump had threatened to tax Canadian and Mexican products at 25%, a decision he said was justified by the opioid crises – in particularly fentanyl- and’immigration.
“Donald Trump wants to achieve agreements that are favorable to’energy independence of the United States, in particular in terms of oil, and of Canada, in terms of shale gas,” BFMTV interpreter Cécile Coquet-Mokoko.
Trump, “not an isolationist”
For Maud Quessard, researcher of’Strategic Research Institute of’military school (Iresm), all these statements “demonstrate that’he’It is not isolationist as we usually say.
“It is competing with China and Russia, which are two expansionist powers. He wants to tell a story that competes with what Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin can tell,” continues the American foreign policy specialist on BFMTV.com.
For Maud Quessard, the history that attempts’writing Donald Trump can please his electorate because he relives the glorious hours of’American history. “He wants’follow in the footsteps of Theodore Roosevelt, at the beginning of the 20th century, who was an imperialist president with a strong project for his country,” he analyzes.
But for this, the Republican “does not talk about'”Europe or the Middle East,” he points out. “It refers to territories geographically close to the United States, which speak to Americans.”
However, is Donald Trump willing to’Seize new territories by force? “We are in the maximum pressure strategy,” estimates Maud Quessard. “He doesn’t say that’he will get involved’army to redraw the borders, but wants to demonstrate with demonstrations of force that'”He is willing to guarantee his interests.”
Source: BFM TV
