Donald Trump’s Return to Imperialist Agenda
Donald Trump ran on a “America First” foreign policy platform, pledging no new wars. However, since winning a second term, the president-elect has been embracing a new imperialist agenda, threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland – perhaps by military force – and using economic coercion to pressure Canada to become the nation’s 51st state.
Such talk of undermining sovereign borders and using military force against allies and fellow NATO members marks a stunning departure from decades-old norms about territorial integrity. Analysts say this rhetoric could embolden America’s enemies by suggesting the U.S. is now OK with countries using force to redraw borders.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-critic, said that if he were Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping, Trump’s words would be “music to my ears.” Bolton, who served as ambassador to the United Nations, said Trump’s language reflects a 19th-century worldview that defined European colonial powers.
Gerald Butts, a longtime close friend and former top adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said Trump seems more emboldened than when he first took office in 2017. Butts, part of a WhatsApp group with others who staffed heads of state and government during the first Trump term, said someone joked that the big fear the last time was that Trump didn’t know what he was doing, while the big fear this time is that he does.
Trump’s swaggering rhetoric also marks a continuation of the kind of testosterone-heavy energy that was a signature of his campaign. Charlie Kirk, a key Trump ally, argued that it was imperative for the U.S. to control Greenland, saying it would “make America dream again” and resurrect “masculine American energy.”
Negotiating tactics or invented threats? Trump allies argue that his bluster and most audacious statements are all part of his complex negotiating tactics. However, Michael McFaul, the Obama-era ambassador to Russia, said Trump’s language is counterproductive to U.S. national security interests and will have consequences.
Allies have responded with increasing anger. Canadian officials have called Trump’s proposals a joke, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded with sarcasm to another Trump proposal: to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Denmark and Panama have also responded similarly.
Mike O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he has been surprised by Trump’s recent comments given his previous relative disinterest in using force. NATO members are sworn to defend each other if they are attacked, creating an unprecedented situation were Trump to actually try to forcefully take Greenland.
John Bolton said Trump’s expansionist talk about Canada and Greenland is likely to backfire, adding that when you do things that make it less likely you’ll achieve the objectives, that’s not master bargaining, that’s crazy.