President-elect Donald Trump moves to reassert the United States influence over the Panama Canal and the strategic arctic territory of Greenland has Democratic Party leaders freaking out — and this is just the beginning.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said when asked about ruling out military action to defend U.S. interests.
“It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.”
Democrats rushed to the media to express their outrage. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-D.E., criticized Trump’s positions during an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”
“If this president is serious about an America first agenda, he should be focused on domestic economic issues, not some weird obsession with invading Greenland or Panama.”
Political analyst Maggie Haberman has noted Trump’s interest in Greenland has historical precedent.
“On Greenland, not only has he been talking about it for some time, but a lot of people have been talking about it for some time. This idea of acquiring Greenland for strategic purposes has happened, you know, for decades,” Haberman said during “Anderson Cooper 360.”
The statements came as Trump’s son Donald Jr. and representatives visited Greenland’s capital of Nuuk. Greenland’s government said in a statement that Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was occurring “as a private individual” and not as an official visit, noting Greenlandic representatives would not meet with him.
“This is typical bluster from the president elect, this obsession with Greenland and Panama really came out of nowhere and has been filled with mistruths and misunderstandings,” McBride said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen addressed Trump’s comments in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, emphasizing the longstanding U.S.-Denmark alliance while expressing doubt about potential military action.
“At the same time, it must be done in a way that allows Denmark and the United States to still cooperate in, among other things, NATO,” Frederiksen said.
Trump’s comments extended beyond Greenland and Panama. He has joked about having Canada join the United States as the 51st state, though he said he would use “economic force” rather than military action.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who recently announced his intention to resign, responded by saying, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”
Trump ally Elon Musk fired back on social media, calling Trudeau the “governor” of Canada —
Girl, you’re not the governor of Canada anymore, so doesn’t matter what you say
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 8, 2025
Trump has also called for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, an increase from the current 2% target.
This comes as NATO announced in June that only 23 of its 32 member nations were on track to meet the current spending goal. Nearly 30 percent of members have refused to increase their defense spending to meet the alliance’s requirements.
The president-elect also criticized President Joe Biden’s recent ban on offshore energy drilling in most federal waters as another blow to national security, and vowed to “put it back on day one.”
The ban covers approximately 625 million acres of federal waters and may require congressional action to reverse.