The canal is an 82-km artificial waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through Panama and is critical to U.S. imports. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the United States would take back the Panama Canal as he delivered an inauguration speech in which he invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of “Manifest Destiny.”

Doubling down on his pre-inauguration threat to reimpose U.S. control over the canal, Trump again accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China – claims that the Panamanian government has vehemently denied.

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“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said.

He gave no further details on when or how he intended to do that but had previously refused to rule out possible use of military force, which drew criticism from Washington’s Latin American friends and foes alike.

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino on Monday responded on X that his country has administered the canal responsibly for world trade, including for the U.S., and that it “is and will continue to be Panamanian.”

Trump’s reiteration of his threat about the Panama Canal as he began his second term was his most blatant mention of an agenda for territorial expansion that he has laid out in recent weeks.

In the run-up to his inauguration, he had also said he wanted to acquire Greenland, portraying the overseas Danish territory as crucial for U.S. national security interests, and mused about turning Canada into a U.S. state.

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Critics have accused Trump of language that evokes modern-day imperialism, suggesting such rhetoric could encourage Russia on its war in Ukraine and give justification to China if it decides to invade self-ruled Taiwan.

Some analysts have questioned whether Trump is serious about pursuing what critics say would be a land grab, speculating he may be laying down an extreme negotiating position to squeeze out concessions later on. Also, Trump, in first term from 2017-2021, was known for issuing some headline-grabbing threats and pronouncements that he failed to deliver on.

While Trump made no mention of Greenland or Canada in his inaugural address, he offered hints of territorial aspirations during his second four-year term.

“The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons,” he said.

“And we will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump added.

Manifest Destiny, a phrase originally coined in the mid-1800s, was the belief in a God-ordained right of the U.S. to expand its control throughout North America, and was used to justify the seizure of lands from Mexico and from Native Americans.

In Monday’s speech, Trump also repeated his promise to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Trump said the U.S. had “foolishly” given the Panama Canal to Panama.

The United States largely built the canal and administered territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the United States and Panama signed a pair of accords in 1977 that paved the way for the canal’s return to full Panamanian control. The United States handed it over in 1999 after a period of joint administration.

“We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made, and Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” Trump said.

He said U.S. ships are “being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form.” Panama has insisted that it treats fairly all vessels that transit the canal, and has said China has no control over its administration.

China does not control or administer the canal, but a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings 0001.HK has long managed two ports located on the canal’s Caribbean and Pacific entrances.

The canal is an 82-km (51-mile) artificial waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through Panama and is critical to U.S. imports of autos and commercial goods by container ships from Asia, and for U.S. exports of commodities, including liquefied natural gas. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Jeff Mason, Nandita Bose, Katharine Jackson in Washington, Elida Moreno in Panama City; writing by Matt Spetalnick; editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., on December 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland.

The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he’s picking fights even before taking office on Jan. 20.

In a Sunday announcement naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

Trump again having designs on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the U.S. could retake control of the Panama Canal if something isn’t done to ease rising shipping costs required for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

He’s also been suggesting that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Trump tweaking friendly countries harkens back to an aggressive style he used during his days in business.

“You ask something unreasonable and it’s more likely you can get something less unreasonable,” said Farnsworth, who is also author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”

Greenland, the world’s largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large U.S. military base. It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump’s latest calls for U.S. control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.”

Trump canceled a 2019 visit to Denmark after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately came to nothing.

He also suggested Sunday that the U.S. is getting “ripped off” at the Panama Canal.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,” he said.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to,” but Trump fired back on his social media site, “We’ll see about that!”

The president-elect also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, “Welcome to the United States Canal!”

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal depends on reservoirs that were hit by 2023 droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships, administrators also increased the fees that shippers are charged to reserve slots to use the canal.

The Greenland and Panama flareups followed Trump recently posting that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State” and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.

Trudeau suggested that Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump’s threats to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods.

“Canada is not going to become part of the United States, but Trump’s comments are more about leveraging what he says to get concessions from Canada by putting Canada off balance, particularly given the precarious current political environment in Canada,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe claim a win on trade concessions, a tighter border or other things.”

He said the situation is similar with Greenland, with Trump ultimately looking for concessions from Norway.

“What Trump wants is a win and even if the American flag doesn’t raise over Greenland,” Farnsworth said. “Europeans may be more willing to say yes to something else because of the pressure.”