Grappling with Donald Trump’s new imperialism
As the world awaits with trepidation for Donald Trump’s second presidency, allies and foes alike are aghast at his threat to redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere. Trump’s outrageous moves to ‘buy out’ Greenland, or to take over the Panama Canal is not just about making ‘Making America Great Again’; it is about reviving neo-colonialism. We thought imperialism was dead and gone. With Trump, it is back with a vengeance!
It started with Greenland. Last month, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for “economic security”. Perhaps, it has got more to do with the Arctic island’s rich mineral wealth and its strategic importance to controlling the northern sea lanes. Denmark has been in control since the 14th century; and the self-governing island was fully integrated with Denmark in 1953.
The US briefly occupied the island after World War II but abandoned its enclaves soon after. Trump restarted an ‘ownership’ bid in 2018 in his first presidency; and to demonstrate his current seriousness, sent off his son Donald Trump Jr to land his personal Boeing on Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.
Denmark’s premier Mette Frederiksen has been cautious. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and it’s the Greenlanders themselves who have to define their future,” she said. Greenland’s 57,000 residents have been more strident, stating their island, with its unique culture and history, was not for sale.
Bullying language
Trump’s attempt to bring back colonial rule in Panama has also met serious pushback. The Panama Canal was managed by the US for decades but under a treaty signed by the late US President Jimmy Carter in 1977, it was handed over to the Panamanians on 31 December 1999. Now, the president-elect has called the treaty “a mistake” and threatened to tear it up falsely claiming the Chinese were operating the canal.
Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha responded by saying that “the only hands operating the canal are Panamanian and that is how it is going to stay”.
So far so good. But to extend expansionism to Canada, a long-time, white Caucasian ally of the US, is incomprehensible. Though he has not threatened military might, Trump has invoked “economic force” to pressure Canada to join as the United States’ 51st state. He may not be serious in swallowing Canada, but he is keen on reworking US spending on Canadian goods and military support which he claims gives the US no benefits.
His aggressive sabre-rattling has reached the US’ southern neighbour too. “We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,” Trump said. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically proposing North America be renamed “América Mexicana.”
What we are seeing is a new culture and language of bullying, euphemistically called ‘America First’. And it is not limited to the poor, backward Third World. The ‘idiotic’ social democrats of Europe too are in the line of fire. Trump’s unofficial No.2, billionaire Elon Musk, has made no secret of working with allies to throw out Britain’s democratically-elected Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In Germany, Musk has openly sided with the anti-immigration, extreme right wing party, the AfD, and has called for the ouster of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
‘America First’ doctrine
One thing is certain: the coming administration of Donald Trump will never cease to surprise. It’s agenda may be muddled, but it is one step ahead of common imagination. When everybody expected a slew of anti-immigrant measures 20 January onwards, the global narrative has shifted to US’ expansionist agenda.
Trump is now redefining the Monroe doctrine. In 1823, US President James Munroe warned the European powers to stop interfering in the Western Hemisphere. Trump is taking the doctrine a step further. He is telling Europe not only to lay off; but messaging as a bully does that it will be the US which will now carve up the world as it wants in the interests of its own ‘security’.
To make his aggressive, warlike foreign policy sound sensible, the external enemy has been identified. It is China, Iran and Russia – in that order – who are portrayed as seeking domination. Thus, the US has to take the battle to new frontiers. This has been the logic of dictators and tyrants through the ages – from Genghis Khan to Adolf Hitler – and it is being played out again.
In the new found aggression, the incredible thing is Trump seems to have no value for carefully stitched alliances like NATO. He had always been dismissive of the NATO bloc, accusing it of piggy-backing on the US for funds. He has said NATO countries should be spending 5 percent of GDP on weapons and security rather than the ‘measly’ 2 percent currently.
With Canada, too Trump seems to have no respect for US’ oldest and geographically closest ally. He has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada if it fails to protect the US-Canada border from illegal immigration and drugs.
There is little chance the future is going to unravel the way Donald Trump wants. Canada is not going to become the 51st state of the United States; and Greenland will not be bought by Trump. What is happening though is a rising climate of fear and a coming Cold War. Trump is aware of the limitations of this new frontier policy, but what he hopes to do is to solidify the MAGA ranks, and stoke up a new aggressive ‘American’ patriotism even if it means riding roughshod over the national sentiments of other nations. It is a dangerous policy in the long run. It will earn Donald Trump more enemies and it will make an unstable world even more unstable.