We are all learning that when President Trump states what may appear to be a wonky off-the-cuff idea, it’s probably wise to seriously consider that he means it, that there’s a strong likelihood that it will happen, and that it turns out to make good sense.
Take his stated intent to retake control of the Panama Canal, for example, a strategically critical 51-mile-long waterway constructed between 1903 and 1914 connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that the U.S. financed at the cost of about $13 billion in today’s money — the most expensive project in U.S. history at that time — which the U.S. under President Jimmy Carter turned back to Panama in 1999 for currently less than a dollar.
Meanwhile, the U.S. which remains the largest provider of canal transit fees, currently $3.8 billion annually, pays the most to keep it open.
President Trump believes this was and is a lousy deal, most particularly since China, seeking deepening trade ties to Latin America through its massive Belt and Road infrastructure program, has gained potential military and commercial choke-hold control of ports at both ends of the canal.
Panama President Jose Raul Muino apparently got the stern message which was relayed to him by incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and has reportedly given China a required 90-day notice of a decision to terminate their port control relationship.
In terms of strategic importance to America, Greenland — a semi-autonomous Danish territory located between the Arctic Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean — is high up there too.
It’s likely no coincidence that Trump’s attention and proclamations regarding U.S. influence over Greenland coincide with those regarding the Panama Canal where in both cases China and its companies pursue significant economic and military influence.
China has dramatically accelerated encroachments in the Arctic region during Joe Biden’s presidency, including new research stations, increased fishing activities, and expanded mining projects in the High North.
Greenland, home of the highly strategic U.S. Thule Air Force Base on its northwestern coast, also serves as a crucial defense line against Russian missile threats and submarine activities.
President Trump’s proposal to “buy” Greenland isn’t actually new … one he originally suggested during his first term of office, an interest highlighted by the reopening of the U.S. consulate in the capital city Nuuk.
Trump’s latest expression of purchase intent comes just before Greenland holds parliamentary elections next month including a referendum on independence from Denmark.
Although European nations may grouse over President Trump’s proposal, it’s unlikely that the Greenland situation will create a significant divide within NATO because its member states clearly recognize the importance of having the U.S. as the primary security guarantor.
Despite Copenhagen’s recent pledge to boost security spending there by 2 billion euros, Denmark — a NATO member — is recognized to lack adequate financial and military resources to guarantee the security of Greenland amid perceived rising Russia threats to their own countries.
Then there’s the immediate matter of those failures of European NATO alliance members to ante up sufficient military funding to support Ukraine defenses against a current Russia incursion in their own backyard.
During a meeting of NATO Ministers' Ukraine Defense Contact Group, newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth emphasized that the U.S. “remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe. Full stop. But the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.”
Having already covered the lion’s share of NATO’s military costs for Ukraine defense — providing more than $100 billion in aid to the country including nearly $70 billion in weaponry despite far less strategic benefit to America — and to the chagrin of dithering EU leadership — Trump initiated direct negotiations with Presidents Zelenskyy and Putin to end the tragic bloodshed and destruction.
It appears to be working, with a pending deal that bolsters Ukraine security through a U.S. partnership in joint development of the country’s massive rare earth mineral deposits, repays America in revenues for previous and ongoing support, and increases leverage over Russia in deescalating global conflict.
Can Trump’s innovatively refreshing “art of the deal” approach to world security also offer hope in bringing about elusive peace throughout the Middle East in support of Israeli security and humanitarian recovery of the horrifically war-ravaged Palestine Gaza Strip?
During a joint Feb. 4 White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump boldly suggested that Gaza Strip restoration to a beautiful “Riviera of the Middle East” could be “paid for by neighboring countries of great wealth” to create a place where returning Palestinians aren’t “going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people has had to endure.”
A preposterous utopian fantasy?
Maybe.
But don’t prematurely count him out in achieving this miracle as well, any more than the Abraham Peace Accords during his first administration which seemed equally impossible.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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