Trump's territory threats may reverse decades-old US policy

President-elect Donald Trump has laid America's territorial claim over Canada, Greenland and Panama Canal, the first time in over 75 years that the United States (US) will seek to acquire new territories if Trump maintains this position after taking office on January 20.

- Prashant Jha

He has also announced his intent to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

In demanding Greenland, Trump has cited American national security and Chinese and Russian activity in the region as the basis for his claim on the very day that his son, Donald Trump Jr, and Sergio Gor, appointed to run White House personnel office, travelled to Greenland in a well-publicised trip to project local support for America. In the case of Panama Canal, he has cited national and economic security and Chinese "control" of the Canal as the reason. And in the case of Canada, he has cited America militarily protecting Canada and supporting it economically, yet suffering from a trade deficit, as grounds for converting it into America's 51st state. In the first two cases, he has threatened military coercion, while in the case of Canada, he has threatened economic coercion to achieve his goals.

Trump's stated intent to expand US territory upends centuries of history, treaties, and sovereign commitments, challenges the very basis of the international system, and strains America's ties with three key allies and partners - Canada, Denmark which has sovereignty over Greenland, and Panama. Among them, Canada and Denmark are NATO member states, an alliance that has never seen one member attack another and commits all members to defend any member state that is under attack. The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, has a long and contentious American colonial history but was handed over to Panama by the just deceased Jimmy Carter and has been under exclusive control of Panama since 1999.

All three countries have rebuffed Trump and asserted their sovereignty.