President Trump repeated vows to secure U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal in his speech to a joint a session of Congress on March 4.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” he said. “I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
Greenland’s prime minister responded, saying “We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken.”
On the Panama Canal, Mr. Trump said, “To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” referring to a deal to give an American company control of key ports.
Panama’s president denounced Mr. Trump’s remarks and said “The Canal is Panamanian” in a social media post.
Below is a look at where the two places are and why Mr. Trump might want the U.S. to control them.
Where is Greenland and why would President Trump want to control it?
Greenland is located to the northeast of Canada and is largely covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. The largest island in the world, but home to only around 60,000 people, it is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, with its own elected government.
Its location between the U.S., Russia and Europe makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes — especially as melting sea ice has opened up new shipping routes through the Arctic.
It is also the location of the northernmost U.S. military base.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes. “I’m talking about protecting the free world,” he said in early January. “You look at — you don’t even need binoculars — you look outside. You have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen. We’re not letting it happen.”
An illustration by the European University at St. Petersburg shows the Northern Sea shipping route, which a Russian tanker traversed for the first time ever in the winter in February 2021, and the longer southern Suez Canal route. / Credit: European University at St. Petersburg
The Northwest Passage, or Northern Sea route, was first crossed in the winter months by a Russian commercial vessel several years ago, and is a shorter route linking east Asia’s major ports to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Western powers have already voiced concern about Russia and China using it to boost their presence in the North Atlantic.
“The Americans have a strong interest in overseeing the activities of foreign countries in Greenland because it’s such a big security asset for foreign states, and due to that, any investment or activity, from the American point of view, may be seen as a security threat,” Frank Sejersen, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, told CBS News.
Pernille Benjaminsen, a human rights lawyer in Greenland, told CBS News the ties between the territory’s semi-autonomous government and the Danish government had grown tense in recent years, and Trump could be trying to take advantage of that.
“He has noticed that there is this tense relationship between Denmark and Greenland and seen opportunities in that,” she said.
Greenland also has oil, natural gas and highly sought after mineral resources.
Those mineral resources, which include rare earth elements, “have only been lightly explored and developed,” Jose W. Fernandez, the U.S. Department of State’s undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, said at a Minerals Security Partnership event in Greenland in November.
Greenland may have significant reserves of up to 31 different minerals, including lithium and graphite, both of which are needed to produce electric vehicle batteries, according to a 2023 report assessing the island’s resources.
Currently, lithium production is dominated by Australia, Chile and China, while China produces about 65% of the world’s graphite, the report noted.
Greenland also has the potential to provide a significant amount of rare earth minerals like Neodymium, which is used to make the magnets used in electric motors, the 2023 report said.
Currently, China produces about 70% of rare earth elements.
“The world is currently too dependent on a small set of actors for mining and processing many critical minerals,” Fernandez said in November.
Demand for rare earth minerals is outstripping supply, which has kept prices high, according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Still, there are significant hurdles to mining in Greenland, including environmental and cost issues.
What is the Panama Canal and why would Trump want it?
About 40% of U.S. container shipping currently travels through the Panama Canal, according to the trade publication CargoNOW. The canal serves as a shortcut between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and, beyond that, the Atlantic Ocean.
Mr. Trump has said that the United States needs the Panama Canal for “economic security,” falsely alleging that it is being “operated by China.”
“The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China, and they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made,” he said before taking office again on Jan. 20.
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino has disputed claims that China controls the canal.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference nor involvement in anything to do with the Panama Canal,” he said in late December.
The Panama Canal is a vital global trade route for maritime commerce. / Credit: Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu Agency/Getty
But in February, Panama decided not to renew a key infrastructure agreement with Beijing after a visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ahead of Mr. Trump’s address to Congress, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate that operates ports at either end of the canal announced an agreement to sell shares of its units to an investment group led by American company BlackRock.
Mr. Trump touted the deal in his speech. “The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others could use it,” he said.
In his response, Mulino said, “President Trump is lying.”
“The Panama Canal is not in the process of being restored, and this is certainly not the task that was even discussed in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anyone else,” he wrote on social media. “The Canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!”
China has denied trying to claim any control over the canal, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning saying in December that Beijing would “always respect Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal and recognize the Canal as a permanently neutral international waterway.”
The history of Greenland
The Kingdom of Denmark began colonizing Greenland in the early 18th century, hundreds of years after Vikings from the same distant land first arrived to set up residency. It was not until World War II that the U.S. established a presence on the island, when then-Danish Ambassador to the U.S., Henrik Kauffmann, refused to surrender to the rule of Denmark’s Nazi occupiers.
Denmark was liberated from Nazi occupation in 1945, but the U.S. did not leave its military base, Pituffik Space Base, which to this day remains the American military’s northernmost installation.
The history of the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was built by the U.S. between 1904 and 1914. It serves as a shortcut between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, dramatically shortening shipping routes from Asia to ports in the eastern U.S.
It was first managed by the U.S. government for decades, which caused tension with Panama.
In the 1970s, the U.S. and Panama signed a treaty agreeing to the permanent neutrality of the canal. The U.S. committed to relinquishing control of the canal and did so fully in 1999. The canal is now run by the Panama Canal Authority.
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