Trump: Military Annexation of Canada ‘Highly Unlikely,’ but Not Ruled Out for Greenland

On May 4, President Donald Trump used military force to exclude it in conjunction with Canada, but in Greenland he said he had not ruled the possibility.

In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Anchor Kristin Welker asked Trump if he would remove military force against Canada. “I don’t think we’re going to get there before. Something could happen in Greenland. Honestly, it’s necessary for domestic and international security.”

“But isn’t it Canada?” Welker asked.

“That’s very unlikely,” Trump replied with a laugh. “I haven’t seen it with Canada, I have to be honest with you.”

Trump said there is no chance of action against Greenland either, but added that he can see the situation open to it.

“I’m not going to rule it out. I’m not going to do it, but I’m not going to rule out anything,” Trump said.

“Greenland is very badly necessary… for international security,” he added, promising that the United States will “check” the “very few people” who currently live on the huge Arctic islands.

“We have Russian boats. We have aircraft airlines, gun boats, gun boats, etc., that go up and down the coast of Greenland. We need to protect them. Internationally, that’s what we need.”

Canada

After the November election, Trump stoked the international community after regaining US control of the Panama Canal, gaining control of Greenland and showing interest in the possibility of absorbing Canada as the 51st state.

During the interview, Trump insisted he was serious about the proposal and believed it would be in the interests of both countries.

When asked if he would discuss the prospect of adding Canada to the US with Mark Carney, Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, Trump replied, “I always talk about it.”

“If Canada is a province, it doesn’t cost us, and that’s great,” he said.

Speaking of the hypothetical map after the US-Canada merger, Trump said, “I’m a real estate man in my mind. When I look down on it without the artificial lines painted with the ruler years ago… what a beautiful country it would be.”

Meanwhile, the US will benefit from being independent from Canada when it comes to defence spending while still being an independent country.

“Canada spends more money on the military than virtually any other country in the world,” Trump said. “They think NATO is less than any other country. They think we’re subsidizing, they think we’re trying to protect them, and in fact, we don’t have a full share of them, which is unfair to the US and our taxpayers.”

Trump has long had ambitions to add Greenland as US territory. First, he first came to the idea of ​​purchasing it from Denmark, which manages the territory during his first term in 2019.

There are several reasons why he is interested in sparsely populated Arctic islands.

Gaining control of America in Greenland was a central focus of Trump’s foreign policy. This is compared to Monroe’s doctrine, which focuses on the growing influence of America on Western Hemisphere geopolitics.

The northern coastline of Russia surrounds the Arctic Circle, and enemies have long been interested in the area.

Since October, the two major US rivals have been joint patrols in the region. This is an escalation from China’s previous involvement in the Arctic issue.

Vance said Denmark, which now controls Greenland, “is not dedicated to the resources necessary to maintain this base and to maintain our troops.

Separately, the Pituffik space base is important for American missile defense strategies, as the Arctic represents the shortest distance ICBM missiles need to fly to attack the US mainland.

China now controls international markets more than some of these, and the US relies heavily on the main enemies of this territory.

The region also adjacent several key transport and strategic channels in the Arctic, increasing its potential value to the United States.