Strategic Moves: Why Trump’s Eyes Are on Greenland and Panama

 Strategic Moves: Why Trump’s Eyes Are on Greenland and Panama

"Greenland is essential for national security," Trump declared on Tuesday. "I am speaking of defending the free world." 

Washington What is the reason behind President-elect Donald Trump's willingness to use military force to obtain Greenland and the Panama Canal?

According to two former top Trump national security aides who spoke to USA TODAY, the short answer is that Trump is vying for geopolitical dominance over Russia and China, whom he perceives to be expansionist.

However, Trump frequently ignores the growing impact of climate change on national security, which also plays a significant role in his concerns.

Since his first term, Trump has had his sights set on the enormous but isolated Arctic island. In the weeks leading up to his inauguration, he has intensified his focus on that, as well as his interest in the Panama Canal, a waterway that runs from coast to coast in Central America.

Trump went one step further on Tuesday, saying he would not rule out using economic or military force to seize control of Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, and the canal, which is owned and run by Panama.

At a press conference held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump declared, "We need them for economic security."

At one point, he declared, "The Panama Canal is essential to our nation." Another: "Greenland is essential to our national security."

Greenland: The Northwest Passage's fabled gateway

Trump stated that he thinks Denmark "should give it up, because we need it for national security" in reference to Greenland. I am speaking of defending the free world.

Trump went on, "You don't even need binoculars." "You glance outside. There are Chinese ships everywhere. There are Russian ships everywhere. We will not allow that to occur.

American political leaders have been interested in taking over Greenland for over a century, according to John Bolton, Trump's point man on the island during his first term in office.

Bolton, Trump's first national security adviser, stated in an interview that "Trump didn't discover Greenland." "It has long been a source of concern for the United States."

Bolton claimed that one only needs to view a map of the world from the North Pole to comprehend Trump's interest in Greenland.

According to Bolton, half of the Arctic Circle is covered by territorial claims made by the United States, Canada, Denmark, and Norway, the four NATO members. "The rest is covered by Russia."

Although the United States currently maintains a military installation in Greenland, greater authority over the entire island would allow Washington to better defend its regional interests, including vital shipping lanes, from Russian and, more recently, Chinese expansionist efforts.

As a large portion of the impenetrable Arctic Circle ice melts due to climate change, China has escalated its aggression in the area, according to Bolton. As a result, the fabled Northwest Passage—a quicker shipping route between North America, Europe, and Asia that explorers have been pursuing for three centuries—is now a reality.

More commercial and military ships have been able to pass over or close to the North Pole in recent years due to the Northwest Passage's gradual opening, which could cut their journeys by thousands of miles.

"So

"Who knows what lies beneath that?"

Additionally, there is the vast amount of valuable resources that are thought to be hidden on Greenland and beneath the Arctic Circle's ocean floor.

It has never been investigated. It was believed to be covered in ice. Who knows what's beneath the ice, though, as it melts like the Russian tundra? Bolton uttered those words.

Trump administration officials in his first term thought that Greenland might contain vital rare-earth resources that were now becoming accessible due to climate change-induced ice melt.

According to Bolton and another administration official, Charles Kupperman, recovering them would significantly reduce the United States' dependency on China, which possesses a large portion of the world's supplies of these materials used in computers, cellphones, and other high-tech devices.

Bolton stated, "We do have a clear national security interest there, but I'm not an expert on that."

"China is basically taking over" the Panama Canal

Trump attacked former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday for handing over control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian government despite the fact that the United States invested enormous resources and labor to construct the 51-mile waterway from a swamp infested with mosquitoes in the early 1900s.

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Trump claimed that China has essentially seized control of the vital waterway over time, providing Beijing with a significant military and economic edge over Washington.

The agreement was that they must treat us fairly, even though we gave it away for just $1. We're not treated fairly by them. Their prices for our ships are higher than those of other nations. On Tuesday, Trump stated, "They charge more for our Navy than they charge for navies of other countries."

Trump also asserted that China, which he said "is basically taking it over," is the largest beneficiary of that.

According to Trump, China is operating the Panama Canal and "makes a lot of money from one of the most profitable structures ever built, because you have ships lined up back to Florida, frankly, and they just keep going through, and the numbers are staggering, half a million to a million dollars a ship."

Again, climate change is the cause of the ship backlog, even though Trump made no mention of it.

Transits through the Panama Canal "have plummeted 49% compared to its peak, due to dwindling water levels as a result of a severe, climate-change-induced drought," according to a February United Nations report.

"Carter got rid of our canal, which we paid for."

Kupperman, the first Trump administration's deputy national security adviser, concurred that the United States may be at risk from China's significant investment in canal infrastructure.

"There is no doubt that the Chinese have a plan to establish a significant presence in the Western Hemisphere. Kupperman told USA TODAY, "And it's not just in Panama; it's throughout South America and other places as well."

According to Kupperman and Bolton, increased U.S. control or influence over the canal would help the incoming Trump administration thwart China's attempts to increase its influence across the Western Hemisphere and would also help the United States in terms of military strategy and global trade leverage.

In 1980, during Ronald Reagan's first presidential campaign, Kupperman began working on Panama Canal issues.

He claimed that Reagan's attack on Carter's deal to cede control of the Canal to Panama was one of the reasons he won the election back then.

Kupperman remarked, "He claimed it was our canal, we paid for it, and Carter removed it." "I believe Trump is attempting to revive the sentiments that existed when the canal was first returned to Panama, as it was a political statement in 1980."