President-elect Donald Trump, throughout a protracted information convention on Tuesday, spoke about his curiosity in securing U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and stated he wouldn’t rule out the usage of navy drive.
Under is a have a look at the place the 2 locations are and why Trump may need the U.S. to manage them.
The place is Greenland and why would Trump wish to management it?
Greenland is positioned to the northeast of Canada and is basically lined by the Greenland Ice Sheet. The biggest island on the earth, however house to solely round 60,000 folks, it’s a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, with its personal elected authorities.
Its location between the U.S., Russia and Europe makes it strategic for each financial and protection functions — particularly as melting sea ice has opened up new shipping routes through the Arctic.
It’s also the placement of the northernmost U.S. navy base.
“We’d like Greenland for nationwide safety functions,” Trump stated Tuesday. “I am speaking about defending the free world. You have a look at — you do not even want binoculars — you look outdoors. You might have China ships in every single place. You might have Russian ships in every single place. We’re not letting that occur. We’re not letting it occur.”
European College at St. Petersburg
The Northwest Passage, or Northern Sea route, was first crossed within the winter months by a Russian business vessel a number of years in the past, and is a shorter route linking east Asia’s main ports to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Western powers have already voiced concern about Russia and China utilizing it to spice up their presence within the North Atlantic.
“The Individuals have a robust curiosity in overseeing the actions of international nations in Greenland as a result of it is such a giant safety asset for international states, and as a consequence of that, any funding or exercise, from the American standpoint, could also be seen as a safety risk,” Frank Sejersen, affiliate professor on the College of Copenhagen, instructed CBS Information on Wednesday.
Pernille Benjaminsen, a human rights lawyer in Greenland, instructed CBS Information the ties between the territory’s semi-autonomous authorities and the Danish authorities had grown tense lately, and Trump might be attempting to take benefit that.
“He has seen that there’s this tense relationship between Denmark and Greenland and seen alternatives in that,” she stated.
Greenland additionally has oil, pure gasoline and extremely wanted mineral sources.
These mineral sources, which embrace uncommon earth parts, “have solely been flippantly explored and developed,” Jose W. Fernandez, the U.S. Division of State’s undersecretary for financial progress, power and the atmosphere, said at a Minerals Security Partnership occasion in Greenland in November.
Greenland might have important reserves of as much as 31 totally different minerals, together with lithium and graphite, each of that are wanted to supply electrical car batteries, based on a 2023 report assessing the island’s sources. These deposits are seemingly to attract the curiosity of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who’s become a close adviser to Trump after offering greater than $270 million final yr to again his and different Republicans’ candidacies.
Presently, lithium manufacturing is dominated by Australia, Chile and China, whereas China produces about 65% of the world’s graphite, the report famous.
Greenland additionally has the potential to offer a major quantity of uncommon earth minerals like Neodymium, which is used to make the magnets utilized in electrical motors, the 2023 report stated.
Presently, China produces about 70% of uncommon earth parts.
“The world is presently too depending on a small set of actors for mining and processing many vital minerals,” Fernandez stated in November.
Demand for uncommon earth minerals is outstripping provide, which has stored costs excessive, according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Nonetheless, there are important hurdles to mining in Greenland, together with environmental and value points.
What’s the Panama Canal and why would Trump need it?
About 40% of U.S. container transport presently travels by way of the Panama Canal, based on the commerce publication CargoNOW. The canal serves as a shortcut between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and, past that, the Atlantic Ocean.
Trump stated that america wants the Panama Canal for “financial safety,” falsely alleging that it’s being “operated by China.”
“The Panama Canal is significant to our nation. It is being operated by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We did not give it to China, and so they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that reward. It ought to have by no means been made,” Trump stated.
Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino has disputed Trump’s claims.
“There may be completely no Chinese language interference nor involvement in something to do with the Panama Canal,” he stated in late December.
Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu Company/Getty
Panama’s International Minister Javier Martínez-Acha stated Tuesday that his authorities hadn’t spoken formally with Trump or his staff concerning the canal lately, however he reiterated earlier feedback from the nation’s president that the canal would stay below Panamanian management.
“The sovereignty of our canal shouldn’t be negotiable and is a part of our historical past of wrestle and an irreversible conquest,” stated Martínez-Acha.
China has additionally denied attempting to assert any management over the canal, with International Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning saying in December that Beijing would “at all times respect Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal and acknowledge the Canal as a completely impartial worldwide waterway.”
The historical past of Greenland
The Kingdom of Denmark started colonizing Greenland within the early 18th century, lots of of years after Vikings from the identical distant land first arrived to arrange residency. It was not till World Conflict II that the U.S. established a presence on the island, when then-Danish Ambassador to the U.S., Henrik Kauffmann, refused to give up to the rule of Denmark’s Nazi occupiers.
Denmark was liberated from Nazi occupation in 1945, however the U.S. didn’t go away its navy base, Pituffik Area Base, which to at the present time stays the American navy’s northernmost set up.
The historical past of the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was constructed by the U.S. between 1904 and 1914. It serves as a shortcut between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, dramatically shortening transport routes from Asia to ports within the jap U.S.
It was first managed by the U.S. authorities for many years, which induced stress with Panama.
Within the Nineteen Seventies, the U.S. and Panama signed a treaty agreeing to the everlasting neutrality of the canal. The U.S. dedicated to relinquishing management of the canal and did so absolutely in 1999. The canal is now run by the Panama Canal Authority.
