Trump vows to 'expand' US territory, invokes Manifest Destiny, hints at military force in Panama & Greenland

At his inauguration, US President Donald Trump promised to "expand our territory", invoked the colonialist "Manifest Destiny", and vowed to take over the Panama Canal (falsely claiming China runs it).

Donald Trump began his second term as president by vowing to grow the US empire.

In his inauguration speech, Trump used explicitly imperialist rhetoric, promising to "expand our territory".

He even invoked "Manifest Destiny", a concept employed by 19th-century US colonialists to justify ethnically cleansing Indigenous nations and stealing their land.

"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", Trump said, adding, "And we will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars".

At his inauguration, Trump also pledged to forcibly take over the Panama Canal, in violation of the sovereignty of Panama, which has strongly rejected his threats and maintained that the canal is not for sale.

To try to legitimize US meddling, Trump falsely claimed that "China is operating the canal". This is not true. But Trump asserted, "we're taking it back".

Trump hints at military force in Panama and Greenland

In addition to Panama, Trump has threatened to colonize Greenland, an autonomous territory that has sought independence from Danish colonialism.

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede has made it clear that his people want independence; they do not want to be part of the United States.

“The Greenlandic people don’t want to be Danes. The Greenlandic people don’t want to be Americans”, Egede stressed.

However, Trump has ignored the statements of the government of Greenland, just as he has ignored Panama's objections. Instead, he has indirectly threatened to use military force to seize their territory.

In a press conference on January 7, a journalist asked Trump, "Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas you are not going to use military or economic coercion?"

Trump replied, "No. No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this: we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military".

The reporter then followed up, repeating, "You can’t rule out that you will not use military or economic force?"

Trump answered, "I'm not going to commit to that now. It might be that you'll have to do something. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country".

Greenland's strategic location and minerals

The geostrategic importance of the Panama Canal is clear. Roughly 5% of global maritime trade flows through the chokepoint, including 1,000 ships and more than 40 million tons of goods every month.

But why does the US president want to colonize Greenland? US state propaganda outlet Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty made it clear in an article titled "As Russia and China Step Up Arctic Presence, Greenland Grows In Importance For U.S.".

The report warned about the growing influence of China and Russia in the Arctic, noting that Greenland could be used a base for US power projection into the region.

The United States already has at least one known military base in Greenland, the Pituffik Space Base, previously called the Thule Air Base.

Another reason is that Greenland has large reserves of strategic minerals. Reuters put this bluntly, stating that the territory "could be useful for the U.S. because of its strategic location and rich mineral resources”.

Reuters cited a 2023 survey that found that Greenland has 25 of the 34 minerals that were designated as "critical raw materials" by the European Commission.

The Western media outlet complained that the "extraction of oil and natural gas is banned in Greenland for environmental reasons, and development of its mining sector has been snarled in red tape and opposition from indigenous people".

Reuters reported that Greenland has reserves of rare earths, graphite, copper, nickel, zinc, gold, diamonds, iron ore, titanium-vanadium, tungsten, and uranium.